The Konoha Soldier
by Its-Mysterious
Summary: Sarah Hatake enters the world of 'Naruto' under suspicious circumstances, and she has one main goal: Survive! How will she make it through the wars ahead? She doesn't know much, but she does know one thing: The Naruto she lives in now isn't gonna end up like that show she used to watch as a kid. What will happen? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z! Currently In Konoha Crush Arc!
1. Chapter 1:Kick the Can (Preface)

_**WAIT!**_

 _ **The real story starts next chapter! -**_

 ** _This chapter has nothing to do with that actual story or it's plot, and occurs chronologically before the start of my story. Think of it as a preface, or a oneshot. If you're not interested, go ahead and skip to the next chapter. If you do read this preface, then you get a gold star! It is somewhat relevant to the story, so I do consider it to be canon, if anyone is wondering. Enjoy the read!_**

'Thunk!'

An empty soup can soars through the air past Kakashi's hiding spot on a large branch of a tree, bringing him back to reality. He peers over the top of his orange book. The kids from Academy class C were still playing 'kick the can' in a grassy clearing of a forested park. Kakashi hid in one of the trees on the edge of the small field, watching the children play.

"Hey! No fair, Sasuke!" The kid Kakashi recognized as Minato's son yells.  
Sasuke turned around to the yellow-haired child with his hands in his pockets, cooly.  
"What's not fair?"

"You can't just shove me! That's against the rules!" Naruto screeched, making wild gesticulations and pointing an accusatory finger towards Sasuke.

"Everything is fair for ninja, Naruto. You want to be a ninja, right? Although… I doubt you'll ever be one. Besides, when have you ever followed the rules?"  
An infuriatingly smug sneer jumped onto the little Uchiha's face.  
"Just you watch, Sasuke! I'll be the strongest ninja around, and then you'll have to respect me! You'll see!"  
Sasuke turned around. "Whatever. You better go get that can, or it'll be dark before you get back."

Naruto let out a loud groan and jogged off into the woods in search of the can. The other kids from Class C had formed a circle around the two arguing children and were now walking away to find new hiding spots. Ino and Sakura looked like they were trying to hide vicious nosebleeds.

Kakashi was very experienced on the subject of nosebleeds, and he felt like he was in the mood for another one. Kakashi lifted his book up to his eyes. He was just getting to the good part… Too bad he already knew what was going to happen. He mentally recited every single word on the next page, and then he flipped to that page. He was right- he remembered every single word of it. He knew the entire book by heart now. Kakashi slumped against the tree trunk behind him and reclined his head against a soft piece of moss that was juuust in the right spot. He closed his eyes. Aaaahh, peace…

"HEY! GUYS! I FOUND IT!" Screeched an orange blur as he ran back towards the field.  
"Whaaat? Already? Aww, come on!" mumbled Sakura. "Kick it farther next time, Sasuke!"

Kakashi blearily looked down at the latest developments as Naruto took his place by a park lamp and carefully placed down the can. The boy sat down on the park bench next to the lamp and covered his eyes.  
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…"  
Naruto counted to thirty and the other kids hid, with the exception of Shikamaru, who had fallen asleep in the shade before the game even started, discounting the game as a waste of energy.

Naruto opened his eyes and looked around. Everyone was fairly well hidden, but unexplainably, Naruto had a gut feeling that Kiba was hiding behind a tree to his left. Naruto snuck around to the tree. Kakashi snorted. He was about as sneaky as a rampaging buffalo. Then again, he had never actually seen a buffalo with his own eyes. Maybe they were actually very sneaky. Who knows? Kakashi let his thoughts wander to other jumped around the side of the tree. "Tag!" he shouted, poking Kiba on the shoulder.

"Aargh! Naruto! Don't scare me like that!"  
"It's your own fault for not finding a better hiding spot!" Joked Naruto.  
"Hey! My hiding spot is great! It was only luck that you found me."

While Naruto and Kiba deliberated, a rustling was heard from a bush on the opposite side of the clearing. A kid with a dark green trench coat and sunglasses jumped towards the can. Naruto sprung to action and sprinted towards the speeding Aburame. Shino leaped for the can, but he was too slow. Naruto tagged him with glee.  
"Out!" Naruto proclaimed, pointing to the jail. Shino adjusted his glasses and obediently walked to the 'jail' where Kiba was already standing.

"That kid at least shows some promise. Using an extremely confrontational Inuzuka as a distraction…" Kakashi mumbled.  
He brushed a silver strand of hair out of his eyes and yawned. A cool breeze fluttered through the trees and pushed the limp strand of hair back into his eyes again.  
Suddenly, Ino and Choji scrambled for the can from a hiding spot behind Naruto. He pretended not to notice, but then suddenly put on a burst of speed and lunged for Choji. The Akimichi was slow to move out of the way and was tagged. Ino ran past Naruto for the can but suddenly the blonde was already there to tag her. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and wiped her arm where the little jinchurriki had touched her against the lamppost. She too walked over to the 'jail'. Shortly afterwards, Sakura made a run for it but also fell prey to Naruto's superior speed. She pulled back her arm to punch him across the face, but decided against it.

She didn't want to seem un-ladylike around Sasuke. Her victim audibly gave a sigh of relief.

Kakashi wanted to step in and tell Sakura off for even considering hurting Naruto, but he knew that if he became friends with the little boy, he would die just as his father did. Anyone that Kakashi became close to died. He couldn't allow that to happen to his sensei's son. Nobody would fall victim to his curse again. Kakashi sighed. The sun was beginning to set, and he was tired after the difficult S-Rank mission he was assigned yesterday.

A few civilian children that Kakashi didn't recognize ran towards the can but were tagged, just like everyone else. Everyone else except for Sasuke, that is. And Hinata, but she wasn't playing. The Hyuuga clan was stifling as ever. Kakashi spread out his senses. The missing Uchiha was hiding in a tree directly behind Naruto.

"Hey, where's Sasuke?" Kiba said aloud.  
"That's right, how could I ever forget Sasuke-kun?" Sakura screeched. "Sasuke, save us!"  
In a blur of black and navy blue, Sasuke sprinted towards the can and stopped right behind Naruto. Naruto turned around in surprise, and was shoved to the side by Sasuke.

'Thunk!'

The can flew away into the distance for the fourth time that day.

"HEY! I thought I told you not to shove me, you jerk!"

"YAAAY, Sasuke-kun, you saved us!" screamed Sakura and Ino at once, incredibly synchronized.

"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it?" teased Sasuke.  
"I'm gonna fight you! Right here, right now!" yelled Naruto.

Sasuke shrugged with fake sadness. "Well, if that's how it's gotta be… but don't forget, you asked for it." He said, smoothly shifting his stance into the Uchiha taijutsu style.

Across the field, Shikamaru opened one eye and looked at the situation. He sighed. Those two are such a drag… He sighed and stood up with the help of the tree trunk he fell asleep next to. The Nara slouched over to the two fighting children.

Those two are exact opposites, Shikamaru thought, which is interesting because one wears orange and white, but the other blue and black. Blue and orange are widely considered to be opposite colors. Same for black and white. Naruto should really get a new outfit… Shikamaru shrugs to himself apathetically. oh well.

A pair of hands separated the fighting academy students and pushed them apart. Choji stood in between the two. Naruto attempted to sidestep the Akimichi, but the peacemaker wouldn't let him through. Naruto stormed away and sat on the park bench, fuming.

"Our parents are here." Intoned Sikamaru, mostly to distract his squabbling peers. The other kids looked to the stairs at the entrance-way and saw that he was right. Inoichi, Shikaku, and Choza stood by the red arch that resided above the stairs, happily chatting about this and that, and life in general.

Shibi Aburame stood over to the side, silently watching Shino interact with his friends. Even Sakura's mother was there, nervously standing by Tsume Inuzuka, who was sending her menacing glares.

One by one the children filed over to their parents and walked away happily after saying goodbye to their friends. The sky lit up with pink and yellow as the kids and their parents left. But after all the mothers and fathers had walked away with their children, two still remained. In the grassy field, Naruto sat on the bench, watching the sunset. Wistfully, he thought about how he would like for his parents to come pick him up at the park. Sasuke was sitting on the ground, leaning on the back of the bench behind him so he was facing the other direction. He was having similar thoughts.

Soon the sun took it's nightly fall over the horizon. It was too dark for Kakashi to read anymore. Naruto and Sasuke had been sitting there for at least two hours, silently. He climbed to his feet and prepared his chakra for a massive ninja jump that would land him on the roof of a house just outside of the park when he heard a quiet noise. Under the yellow glow of the park lamp, he saw that both were softly crying. A terrible feeling settled in Kakashi's stomach. But instead of consoling them, he leaped through the trees toward the sleepy streets.

Sorry, Minato.

As always, reviews and any other support/ constructive criticism is highly appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2:The Adventure Begins!

id:11642239

Hey everyone, new fic. I decided not to do the story I'm sure you've all read at least once or twice where someone dies, goes to the Naruto dimension, gets adopted by the Nara clan and grows up or whatever. So I chose another clan, that a friend suggested- the Akimichi clan! gonna keep this one going as long as I can so remember to drop a comment with your ideas. I'm not really that good of a writer and when I read other, much better fics it makes me cringe, but hey, aim high in life, right? But you probably just ignored that and everything else in this intro. If you read it, you get a golden star :). Have fun reading!

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-Thank you Blacksmith8240 for subscribing to this Epically lame story!

-Thank you Nardolini for subscribing to this Epically lame story!

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My death wasn't the big deal that I thought it was going to be. For some reason, after I died, I hung around for a bit, like that bad taste you get after eating cabbage or something. I was just… There. No arms, or legs, or anything else. Just There I couldn't talk either. Or eat. Or use the bathroom, now that I think of it. But I was anchored there. When I was alive, I was that kind of person that you would see on the bus or the train on your way to work every morning but you never really paid any attention to. I had a few close friends. A nice girl who was my roommate in college that comes to my apartment for some low- quality beer every once in a while, and her sister. Some guy from my twelfth grade math class. Nobody else really came to my funeral. That dude who works two cubicles over in the office. A cool waiter at the bar I work my second job at, as a bartender. that's alright. I guess I'm glad someone came, but I wouldn't want people to get all upset over my death. But how many of you can say you've been to your own funeral? Not many. Unless you ended up like me. Anyway, It was a few weeks later when the story really started. I thought that it was it for me, that I had lived my one life. I was wrong.

It happened one day when I was busy with my new favorite pastime- pranking people. I scared the hell out of a lot of people, I'm sure. Then something happened that scared the hell out of me. A blinding flash obscured my vision, and I was somewhere else- noise. Noise was the first thing I noticed as it swirled around me, along with countless bodies- people. They towered over me, swarmed around me. It was terrifying. My heart is racing, j try to take a step forward to get away from it all, but I fall down.

What?

I try to get up, but my body isn't working properly. I struggle on the ground. Then, suddenly, a heaving sensation comes up from inside me and I vomit up nothing. I feel dizzy.

"Hey, is that kid alright?" Some guy asks in the crowd.

"Where are her parents?" Another wonders.

"Where... help-" I gasp. Panic attack me. Slowly, I get up to my knees and take in my surroundings a second time. A crowd has formed around me. They look down at me. I stare up. Behind them is a blue, blue sky, and massive trees border the sea of blue.

Feeling my body back under my command, I leap to my feet, and run, at a brisk stumble, as fast as I can, out of the crowd in any direction. People dodge out of my way as I head towards anywhere. I make it to a dirty alleyway before I fall again. What's with this change? Where am I? Who am I? Why does my body feel so awkward? So many senses that I haven't felt in years attack me at once. Hunger, thirst, nausea, but most of all, fear- fear so vibrant it's like it's crushing my heart.

I take a moment to study my situation. I need to be calm. I make a list of objectives to focus on, and start with number one. First, I need to observe, and determine my location. I stumble to the mouth of the alley, hands on the wall for stabilization. It's as though I've forgotten how to walk. The buildings around me seem colorful and light. Lanterns are hung on strings between buildings and gigantic trees. It seems like I'm in an expansive city. Above the buildings, ...

My jaw drops in shock. That mountain... it looks familiar...

No.

No.

I know what I'm seeing, but I don't like it one bit.

That's... that's... _the hokage monument._ Falling against the wall, I grip my head in my shaking hands. No. This isn't possible. What I'm seeing can't be real-yet every shred of information my body perceives tells me that it is. Why? Why me?

Living as a 'ghost' must have made me crazy. Or maybe I've gone to heaven and am now in a world of dreams, of my own creation... I rule that out immediately. I'm miserable right now. That doesn't sound like a world of dreams to me.

"Hey, what's wrong with that kid?" A person asks as they walk by. I'm not a kid, right? Right? I'm eighteen, right? Please, let me be right. Please.

"Mommy? Is that girl crazy?" A tiny toddler asks, pointing at me. Her mother stands at a stall a few feet from the entrance of the alleyway.

"I don't... I don't know, honey..." the woman says. "Come on." She says, tugging the kid away. Okay. I'm a kid. I get it. Im a little girl again, lost in 'Naruto', with nowhere to go, nothing to eat... i quickly count the number of stone faces on the monument. Four. That gives me an idea of what the time period is. I file that knowledge for later.

Half of me is terrified of my new existence. But the other half is hopeful for adventure. However, both halves suddenly collapse onto the ground together. I guess it was too much for me to handle at once.

I had been reborn, entered another world. The world of an anime I used to watch- Naruto. I was obsessed with that show for a while. I had Naruto T-shirts, mugs, and even a Kakashi costume that I wore once to some convention. Just my luck that I die and get reincarnated into a word full of death and destruction. At least I got reincarnated at all. At least it's into a world that I'm semi-knowledgeable about.

I wake up to a white ceiling in the Konoha General Hospital. A blank, sterile smell hits my nose. The smell matches the rest of the room. I hate hospitals.

For better or for worse, my first few days in the Village Hidden in the Leaves didn't go how I thought they would go. I dreamed of exploring, breathing fire, learning, climbing the hokage monument or, doing anything, really. But the only activity available was lying still in a hospital bed.

Not that I don't mind lying down.

I take my time to create a living strategy. 'Naruto' is a dangerous place, and the fact that whether I'm crazy or not enemies like the Akatsuki will soon be my reality makes me shudder involuntarily.

I've come to only one conclusion: if I want to survive, I have to get stronger.

In fact, I have a three-pronged plan for survival:

1\. Become a ninja

2\. Befriend characters that can protect you or have plot armor

3\. Abuse knowledge from the future

I can do this.

I briefly considered just staying as far away from conflict as I can, but enemies like pein would kill me if I stayed in Konoha and there's a good chance the ten tails could randomly destroy whatever city I do decide to live in by coincidence.

Or I could be killed by starvation. Or a nasty cold. Or (literally) a mean look from a ninja.

No, being weak would not do at all: if I've learned anything from watching Naruto, weak characters are useless, and only the strongest characters matter.

Also, the power of friendship always wins.

But no, I decide- fighting side by side with the main cast of 'Naruto' characters is probably safer than running. All my thoughts about preserving my life do beg the question, though: am I even capable of dying? Will I get reincarnated again? Why am I alive?

But everyone wonders what the reason for their existence is, right? I just get to wonder for two lifetimes instead of one. What a bother.

My concerns turn to my immediate well-being as the sting of a needle in my right arm brings me back to the present.

"There you go! All done." The nurse says, cheerily. I kinda hope he will heal the fresh hole in my arm with the green glowy hands, but he doesn't. He walks swiftly out of the room.

A blood test.

There's a few things I need to do before I go looking for main characters or learning ninjutsu. I have to write down a general outline of the anime so I don't forget. I need to know when I am in the timeline of 'Naruto', and also...

 _I need to figure out how to get something to eat,_ I realize, feeling a jab of hunger. I also need to figure out where I'm going to live. Being an orphan in the world of 'Naruto' is not a good option. Also- I don't even know what I look like!

When I came into this world, it was clear that my body is not the one that I'm used to having. The ground is a little too close to my eyes for comfort, and the world around me seems sharper. My skin is paler than it was before, and my hand is missing it's birthmark behind my left thumb. Furthermore, my limbs feel awkward and short- every step feels like I've missed a stair by accident while walking down stairs. And my hair... my hair is a shiny, reflective silver. Anime and weirdly colored hair goes together like peanut butter and jelly.

After confirming that I'm alone in the room, I carefully stand up and trundle to a small mirror by a sink on the far side of the room. I study my reflection. My face is pale and round. My hair is a shiny silver, like a net of tiny metal wires, long, down to my middle back. My nose is small, and my eyes are inky black. My lips are thin and unprotrusive. Id say I'm doing pretty good in the looks department, even if my cheeks are a little chubby. But then again, I'm just a little kid.

Just a little kid!

Growing up again is gonna be a breeze the second time, right? I hope so. I quickly examine the rest of my body in the empty hospital room. I look a little chubby, a little too much for comfort, but my arms and legs are corded with thick muscle underneath a protective layer of chub. Pressing into my stomach, I can feel strong abs. Despite not ever going to the gym, it looks like I've got something to work with here in order to become a ninja.

As I stare at my reflection, getting used to my new face, I hear a knock on the door. The nurse enters again, seemingly puzzled. "You said your name was Sarah, right?" He asks.

"Yep." I hop back onto the sterile white hospital bed.

"And you don't remember your parents or any relatives?" He asks.

"Not a thing." I say, scratching behind my ear with my hand. Outwardly I appear bored, but I'm very curious about the results of the test.

"Well, it seems like you have no living or dead relations in any of the five nations or any village that we have on record." He says.

No surprise there.

"But we went ahead and ran a test for notable bloodlines." He continues. The nurse frowns. "And you seem to have an indisputable genetic link to two of Konoha's prominent clans: the Hatake and the Akimichi clans. There is only one Hatake alive, so..." He seems nervous. My heart is pounding.

"It's logical to conclude that you must be the daughter of Hatake Kakashi." He gulps nervously. "Why Kakashi the Copy Nin would create a child off record..." He trails off again.

I'm honestly speechless. I don't even know what to think. All I can think about are the ramifications. And questions. Is Kakashi my father? Why doesn't he want me? Is that something I should feel hurt about?

What am I even doing here anyway?!

It's a day later when I start to get some answers to some questions. But not the answers I was hoping for. A knock at the door let's a New figure in. One that I recognize. He is tall, brown skinned, and covered in scars. He wears black, and a black bandanna over his head. It has a Leaf hitae-ate sown to it. A ninja. I have to deal with ninja already. And not just any ninja- Ibiki Morino, intelligence officer and proctor of the chunin exams. I nearly pissed my pants when I saw him walk in the door.

He pulls up a cheap white plastic chair from the other side of the room.

"Sarah Hatake." He says, reading from a clipboard. "There's no need to be frightened. I just have some questions for you, that's all. They're all easy ones, I promise." He almost offers me a smile.

"I'll only ask hard questions if you don't tell me the truth, okay? And if you do lie to me, I will know." His tone is gentle, but laced with underlying threats. He's covering all his bases, talking in a way that a child would interpret as kind, but an adult would interpret as a threat. As I would expect from the leader of Konoha's investigation agency.

I try to compose myself. Behind him is another ninja, with glasses, also holding a clipboard. He's got long blonde hair. I don't immediately recognize him.

"So, Sarah." Ibiki starts. I nearly piss myself again. "Is 'Sarah Hatake' your name?"

I nod. _I guess it is now_.

"So you have any living relatives that you know of?" He asks. I shake my head.

"Any friends, teachers, or caretakers?" He asks. I shake my head again and he frowns.

"How long do you plan on visiting Konoha?" He asks.

This isn't too bad so far.

"Whell... the rest of my life, I guess." I squeak out.

"So you want to stay here, but you have no relatives or contacts." He says. Contacts. That makes me think that he thinks I'm a spy or something.

I nod.

"Where are you from?" He asks.

Oops. I don't want to seem like I'm hesitating, but I take a moment to think anyway. I want to have an alibi that's impossible to disprove.

"Pompeii." I say.

"Pompeii?" He mumbles, writing on the clipboard. "Why aren't you there now?"

"It was destroyed. By fire." I hastily explain. "Lava."

"Was it ninja who did this to your village?"

"No idea." I say.

"Any other survivors that you know of?" He asks, intensely.

"No idea." I respond. He seems to believe me, after a moment, and then he scribbles on his clipboard.

"I have a question that's a little more difficult for you now. Do you know that the Leaf Village is surrounded by a detection barrier?" He asks.

I nod slowly, not wanting to lie. I don't want any trouble. His eyes narrow. Oops. Am I caught for something?

"Can you tell me how you slipped through that barrier without us knowing?"

Oh. So that's what this is about.

"I... I don't know."

Ibiki's severe face approaches mind as he studies me. He looks for signs of a lie.

"Ibiki-san, she's just a kid." His aide says.

Ibiki wheels around. "We have to be careful. We've been tricked like this before. My authority is absolute." He says, before giving me one last glance. He seems satisfied. Hopefully.

I, on the other hand, feel like I'm about to burst into tears.

"Thank you for your cooperation." Ibiki says, and he hands me a small round ball. Candy. It's the first thing I've eaten in hours.

"Wait!" I call, as Ibiki is closing the door behind him. He turns back around, expectantly. Why did I do that?

"Is Kakashi Hatake my father?" I ask. Ibiki stands motionless, as if making a decision.

"No." He says. "Hatake-san and I have looked over the data personally with the hokage. It seems that your genealogy is a coincidence. Kakashi is adamant that you are not his." He says.

Got it. I slump down on the bed. The door slams behind Ibiki and his blonde aide. If I'm not Kakashi's, then... who's am I? What am I even? The thought crosses my mind that I might be one of Orochimaru's 'experiments'. I stomp that notion down for the sake of my own sanity. Anything but that.

I wish I could have asked him who the hokage was.

A short while later, a nurse brings me food.

"Excuse me, but who is a hokage?" I ask her.

"You mean you don't know." She says. "The hokage is the official leader of our Village, and the strongest ninja we have. That person is Lord Third, Hiruzen Sarutobi-sama." She explains.

"Oh." I say, as I the tiny meal is handed to me. Based on the number of faces on the Monument, that places me sometime before Tsunade's administration and after the death of Minato, Naruto's dad. That means... could I be in the same age-range as Naruto?

A few days later and I'm totally sick of the little white room. The nurses won't tell me when they're going to release me. At this point, I don't even really care that I have nowhere to go. I just want to go _somewhere. Anywhere_. In the meantime, while awaiting my release, I give myself a bit of physical therapy. My strength is great-much better than even my eighteen-year-old body in my previous life. But my body still feels awkward and stiff as I move it around, using muscles that I've never used before. I have no muscle memory. Even eating or drinking from a cup is a challenge. As I re-acclimate myself to moving, i try to remember things. Mostly, things about me. Living as a ghost, I didn't really think about past of future times. Now, I struggle to remember who I was, or if I had friends, or family. I don't seem to have fond feelings toward my previous family. I remember my name- Sarah- that I like the color lavender the best, and that I'm good at football. I guess I'm not anymore. No muscle memory. I don't like bright lights, or seafood. I can't remember what my handwriting looks like. I went to a school. A college. I learned... things. I knew... people? Did I know people? Who did I know?

While reminiscing, another doctor entered the room with a change of clothes and instructions. I had to put on those clothes, and try to look presentable. Someone was here to see me.

Who would come to see me? Was it Kakashi? Hopefully it's not Ibiki again... I quickly change out of my hospital gown into the pale green shirt. I used to have eyes that color... I remember. I put on the grey pants.

Out in the hallway, the doctor is waiting for me. "You're a lucky girl." He explains.

Am I?

My physical therapy seems to work. I'm almost able to keep pace with the doctor.

"The Akimichi clan is aware of your situation. They've offered to take you in."

"Really?" I gasp. The Akimichi clan! A home! I won't have to live on the streets!

"Of course, it's your decision whether you want to accept or not. But I think it's a pretty easy decision." The doctor says. He's right. It is an easy one. The most advantageous course of action for me would be to accept the adoption. The question remains-what will my foster family be like?

In the hotel lobby, a tall, built, chubby man stands waiting. My eyes zero in on him. He's gigantic. I can't help but to goggle at the size of this man. He's at least six foot six, a large build, covered in purple tattoos. A purple rope is tied around his waist, and a headband is tied over his forehead.

I know it's Choji's dad, Chosa, but the anime doesn't do him justice. He looks like a rumbling rhinoceros. I unconsciously take a step behind the doctor. Choza must see the sweat on my forehead, because he smiles kindly, kneeling down.

"You must be the Akimichi girl that's new to Konoha." He says. "Akimichi don't let family in need stay in need."

I hesitate.

"Come on! I'm a friend now." The mountain of muscle says, extending a hand to me. I take it tentatively. He shares a nod with the doctor.

"Let me show you around a little." He chuckles. I nod, and together we walk out the hospital's doors. It's nice to be outside. I notice that it's cold, but I can't tell what season it is.

I struggle to keep up with Choza's strides as he shows the Hokage building, Academy, and other landmarks to me, pointing out every restaurant. I stay silent. He eventually entices me into communication by offering to play a game. I point to a restaurant, and he tells me the name of the head chef and his favorite item on the menu. After twenty repetitions of this game, I accuse him of lying. But of course, he was truthful. He proved it by taking me into one of the restaurants, introducing me to the head chef, and buying me lunch. I was starving after such small portions at the hospital. I surprised both Choza and myself with my eating.

"You'll fit right in!" He says, with a chuckle. I smile. I hope so. As evening began to approach, we walked away from the bustle of Konoha and the road became gravel as the gigantic trees became denser into a forest with a sky-encompassing canopy. The trees give an impression of growing quickly, evidenced by ladders, kunai, signs, and all sorts of things half buried in the wood, as if the tree had swallowed them up.

Wooden buildings come into view, with triangular windows as we approach the Akimichi compound. We stop at one, particularly large building.

"Wait here for a moment? Choza asks as I stand outside. I nod. Choza quickly steps inside the building. The building is the clan meeting hall, according to a sign. Which I can read. Even though it's in a different language that I've never been able to read before. Don't ask me how I can do that.

After a few minutes of waiting, Choza beckons me inside the glass door of the log-cabin style building. The inside is large and cavernous, and the floor is a smooth, glossy concrete. Large industrial fans hang from the white ceiling, in between wide sunroofs.

"If you decide to stay with the Akimichi clan, then I will show you your permanent family from now on. Do you want to join our clan?" Choza asks.

"Yes." I say. Choza seems like a nice enough guy. The Akimichi clan is known for being kind, and I think I'll fit in here.

"Then," He says, taking a step back. "Here we are. What do you think?"

I'm dumbfounded for a second. Choza and his family is seriously willing to adopt... me? I see Choji, and his mom... I don't know her name...

The resulting silence is long and awkward. I only realize that I should say something when each of My new family gains a sweatdrop on their foreheads.

I couldn't think of anything nice to say. I bowed. Seriously! I bowed!

"I look forward to living with you all." I say. "And I am grateful that you have allowed me to become part of your family." The result was underwhelming, to say the least. The sweat drops may have even increased in size since they first appeared. I cringe.

But Choji looks to be my age. Could it be?

"Well," Choza says, "I think we should go out to dinner to celebrate!"

"Where would you like to eat, Sarah?" The mother asks.

Now this question I know an answer to. "Well, I don't really remember my likes and dislikes, being that I have amnesia and all," I explain, playing my part. "But I have a strong inclination towards grilled barbecue."

Choji's face splits into a grin!

"Seems like you won't be a bad sister after all!" Choji exclaims happily. "That's my favorite too!"

My new mother and father share a look of relief. Wow. This is stressful. If I can't survive a conversation with my family, how am I gonna make it through a ninja war?!


	3. Chapter 3:A New World: It Starts Here!

**Hey all my cute little readers! I appreciate how many people have been favoriting and following this story! Happy reading!**

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* * *

"Urrghh..." Someone was viciously poking my shoulder to get me awake. Everything hurt. I ate more last night than I ever have in either of my lives. I blame it on my new Akimichi hormones, if that's a thing. The poker redoubled their efforts to poke me awake.

"Come on, get up!" Choji shouted.

"Noooooo..." I mumbled.

"Well if that won't do it-" Choji said loudly. I opened my eyes to see what he was going to do. With a flourish, he ripped the blinds off my window. White hot light attacked my bedroom.

"Aaahh! My eyes!" I whimpered, rolling side-to-side in my bed.

"Get up, you're supposed to meet your new tutor today and you're already five minutes late!"

"Noooooo..."

"Besides, there's breakfast downstairs. Eggs on rice and sausage, and it's probably getting cold."

Well... The prospect of breakfast made getting up bearable. I slid out of bed and grabbed some clothes.

"So, we don't have school today," said Choji, "Shikamaru and I were thinking of going for one last swim this year before it gets cold. I know you have an appointment, but we wanted to invite you anyway."

"Thanks, Choji. You're the best."

Choji became momentarily flustered at the praise, then offered an awkward goodbye and left for the Nara compound. The last few days have been really busy. I shopped for new clothes, tried to make friends, but I encountered some difficulties. I am treated kindly by other Akimichi, but I think they are a little jealous. I found a cool clothing store though, and I got myself some ninja stuff, even a new cool ninja outfit. As it turns out, active duty ninja actually wear the same thing all the time so they can quickly recognize each other in combat, and otherwise, because team killing isn't cool in this world either.

My schedule begins at 5:00 AM when Shihara foolishly tries to wake me up for breakfast. Everryone eats breakfast while I peacefully sleep, and then Shihara and Choza leave for work. Shihara researches new soldier pill recipes for the Konoha Hospital, and Choza does classified ninja-y stuff. Choji always saves me some food, bless his kind soul. Choji leaves for the Ninja Academy at 8:00 AM and wakes me up on his way out, except for weekends and every other Wednsday. They all say I should have been adopted by the Nara clan.

I took it upon myself to do some interesting things with my time. I tried to work on my chakra control since I'm super excited to do magic fireball stuff and walk up walls, but I felt absolutely nothing. Maybe I just don't have chakra. That would suck. But I don't know enough about the subject to really voice my concerns. I also took some time to find out about my heritage. I already knew about the traits and clan techniques of the Akimichi clan, so I didn't really find much new information in the section of the Academy library that I didn't already know. It was all true though- I seemed to have pretty much all of the Akimichi traits except kindness, but I can work on that. I noticed, besides my new body and appetite, that I am also a lot stronger than I was in my old world. I can toss around my living room couch like it's a box of tissues. That also may be due to the other part of my heritage.

According to my 'research', (not the Jiraya type) Hatake Clan members are known for having a great affinity for ninjutsu and skills in almost everything they do. They also have silver or white hair. Hatake typically have low amounts of chakra. However, the chakra is more potent. For instance, a fireball created by a Hatake would be much stronger than one created by a ninja from another clan, even if both used the same amount of chakra and the same jutsu. Hatake are also known for being incredibly talented at whatever they set their mind to. But in the Third Great Shinobi War, a deadly disease mysteriously wiped out the entire clan except for Kakashi and his father.

Apparently, the existence of a new Hatake is causing public uproar. Everyone wants to know who my real mom is, and everyone assumes Kakashi is the father. He's getting some backlash from that, since he's the only Hatake old enough to have children. Even Gai, I've heard, will not stop pestering him about it. Poor Kakashi. He's probably hiding in his room right now.

I also found out when I am in the plot of Naruto. Currently, the Academy exams will occur in roughly a two and a half months. Hopefully that's enough to help Naruto and Sasuke. They both need some serious mental help. I suddenly burst out laughing at the thought of Sasuke spilling his heart out and his emo, murderous thoughts and feelings to a school counselor. I earned a few nervous, sad smiles from passing Akimichi on the Main Road. Kakashi, because he hasn't befriended Team 7 yet, is the ultimate loner. I've asked Choza about him, and he says that Kakashi spends his time actively hiding from the sight of other humans and avoiding Gai. I turn the corner and walked under an awning of a dojo in downtown Konoha. Here, there were tall buildings and no trees. The Hokage tower stood proudly in the distance. I walked into the dojo. A receptionist met me with a warm smile.

"Welcome! Your name is...?"

"Sarah Hatake." She looked surprised.

"Oh! R-Right, Sarah-kun! Welcome!" She repeated. She looked down at her notepad.

"You're... Forty-five minutes late! He's going to have a fit!"

"Who's 'he'?" I asked with fake apathy.

"Your new sensei, of course! Well, follow me, please!"

The receptionist got up from her desk and lead me around the corner into a room.

"Good luck!" She said, and she hurried back to her desk. I looked around the room. It was a massive gym-like room with hardwood floors and beautiful murals of mountains and trees painted on the concrete walls. There was a large water fountain in the back, and some training targets. And sitting in front of the water fountain, mysteriously levitating in the air in a criss-cross sitting position was... _Ebisu?!_

Ebisu gracefully floated back to the ground. Then he jumped up.

"YOU'RE LATE!" He screamed, wildly pointing an accusatory finger at me. I shrugged, apathetically.

"Sorry, I got lost like fifteen times."

"LIAR! MY TIME IS VERY IMPORTANT AND AS AN ELITE JONIN OF THIS VILLAGE, YOU. MUST. SHOW. ME. SOME RESPECT!"

Ebisu quivered with rage.

"Yes, Ebisu-Sensei."

Suddenly, Ebisu was completely calm, and he walked towards me.

"Hmmm... no breasts... that's a shame."

"I'm eleven, you pervert!" I screamed at him. I tried to slap him, but he moved his head a fraction of an inch to the side and I missed.

"Oooohh, under all of that apathy you _do_ have a temper... Bet you can't slap me. If you can, I'll pay for lunch."

Oh, I see. He was riling me up. Was that his trick? Now, my training was a personal thing. _He got me to care about doing physical exercise in less than five seconds. Incredible._ Although he did so by insulting my figure. At least he wasn't lying. Unfortunately, I had no training at all. I tried to hit him, and I chased after him. I was considered to be pretty good at fighting in my old life, because I took Tae-kwon-do for like two years. two years of 'Disciplinary Martial Arts' is not good enough two fight as a ninja, unfortunately. Ebisu dodged every punch I through at him with minimal effort. Eventually, forty-five minutes of me chasing him around the dojo ended with me panting on a bench and Ebisu standing triumphantly in front of me.

"In case you hadn't noticed," Said Ebisu, "I've been only standing on my left big toe the entire time."

I groaned and my head fell forward onto my knees. I have a long way to go.

* * *

Chapter four: Check! I actually had to re-write this twice because of issues with me accidentally shutting off my computer and stuff... so, ya. Hope you enjoyed, and prepare your butts for the next chapter!


	4. Chapter 4: Boring stuff and Sasuke

This may come as a surprise, but training to be a ninja isn't easy. Or fun. But the anticipation of my survival is all the motivation I need.

My entire family thinks I'm insane for trying to graduate with Naruto and Sasuke's academy class, in almost two months. I'm probably insane too. But I'm sure I'll make it. Because I have to. Falling behind that group may prevent crucial bonds from being formed between the main cast and I.

It's a drag, but I wake up at five every morning with my dad for training. Luckily, my physical strength is already mostly up to par, but my ninja skill set is definitely lacking. I don't like it, but there's no way that I can make up for years of not throwing any shuriken or kunai I'm just a few months. But I have to try my best anyway, with or without my chakra.

I ball my fists in determination. I refuse to be left behind. While I may be new to the sports of throwing sharp things and making traps, I'm picking it up quickly. It looks like I have a talent for it. Besides, I genuinely enjoy studying traps. Some are so devious and evil that I can't help but smile. That's why today I decided that I should get some hands-on experience handling them.

I lean forward, tying some ninja wire around a branch. My finger touches a wire that it's not supposed to touch, and I cringe. Luckily, the trap doesn't go off. I sigh in relief, going back to work.

"Hey, Sarah."

"Ahh!" I turn my head in surprise. Choji's supposed to be at a friends house! He's not supposed to be home by four. After a second, the lazy drawling voice and the image in front of me connects. It's Shikamaru!

"Hey, watch what you're doing!" He yells, diving to the ground. Kunai and ninja wire barely miss his head.

"Sorry!" I yell, running over to him. "You surprised me and I stepped on the trigger. Are you okay?" I kneel down next to him. He looks uninjured.

"What a drag." He says.

"At least my trap kinda worked!" I say.

"Yeah but you shot the wrong guy." He picks himself to his feet. "Choji's working on a school project today, so I thought I'd see what his sister is like and hang out with you instead."

"Is that right? Well, right now I'm training."

Shikamaru seems to deflate at the word 'training'. "I heard that you'll be enrolled in the academy soon." He says.

I dust myself off. "Really? Wheee you hear that?"

"That's not very important." He sighs, as if talking to me is too much trouble. "Ever played Shogi?" He asks.

"Nope. But I have played chess."

"Chess?" He asks.

"Sure. It's a variant of Shogi that's not as complicated. You can teach it to your friends if you want. Let's go inside." I say. I may be playing against a certified genius, but as a member of my high school chess club, I got this!

We walk up the hill towards the house in silence. We kick off our boots and step onto the hardwood floors. Moving to the living room, I slide away the top surface of the coffee table to reveal a checkered board. I chose pieces to represent each of the chess characters, and explain the movement of each piece. Pridefully, I beat him the first two times. But after that the game of chess became a lot less fun.

"Check." He said. I move my pawn to block his bishop, who is currently eyeing up my king.

"You can't do that." He says, pointing to his rook. By moving that pawn, you expose your king to my rook. And there's only one place for you to move your king, so..." He trails off. In ten games, I won three.

I visibly fall into depression. "I thought I was good at this..." I mutter.

"Hey, don't worry about it. It's a cool game." He says.

Life has been different than I expected. Akimichi or not, I've felt hungry almost constantly. While the new world and food is taking some getting-used-to, but cooking food from home has provided me with comfort and sanity.

"Come on, let's bake something." I say, reaching for my notebook.

My notebook has as much information as I can remember about Naruto, technology, food recipes, electronics, chakra, and just about anything else I Could think of. Even song lyrics and any notes I could think of. I used to play guitar, so I bought one. But I still don't have the muscle memory to play it, or the time to practice.

"Baking? Sure." He says. "As long as you don't make me measure up all the ingredients or clean up afterwards."

I promised I wouldn't as I launched into my recipe for chocolate cookies.

After Shikamaru left, I wasn't really in the mood to keep studying, so I thumbed through my notebook, reading song lyrics and humming them to myself. After a rendition of one of my old favorites, I stand up and slam the book shut. Making myself homesick won't help anything.

Feeling alone, I decide to walk to the only place I really feel familiar with- Ichiraku Ramen. The rest of the city just seems so random and New, but Ichiraku's is like a safe haven to me. With the kitchens and familiar face in front of me, and the protection of white banners behind me, I feel safe and calm.

"Good evening, Teuchi-san." I say, climbing up on the padded stools in front of the bar. That's a face I recognize.

"Ah, Sarah-chan! What can I get you tonight?" He asks.

A couple takes up the two seats to my right. It just serves as a reminder that being thirteen again is lonely.

After slurping up my ramen, I walk to the hokage monument. Night is starting to fall now, and by the time I carry myself up the wooden steps all the way to the top, hours have passed and the Village gleams with its usual nocturnal shimmer. From up here, things seem orderly, like they make sense. The wind blows stronger at this elevation. I won't be home in time for curfew. Couples silently shuffle around the observation deck atop the monument, admiring the lights below and the shining stars above. A small figure looks out of place. From the crest on his back... is that Sasuke?

I make my way over to him. We stare out at the Village as he pretends I don't exist.

"The village looks a lot calmer from up here, doesn't it?" I suggest, to force him to notice me.

He turns away from me. "Sorry," He says. "I'm not in the mood for conversation." He deftly leaps over the guardrail and people stare as the Uchiha boy plummets toward the stone faces below.

 _Well, that's Sasuke and Shikamaru_. I think to myself. I can see now why Sasuke is such a loner.


	5. Chapter 5: The Big Day

**Here's the next chapter! I like all the followers and reviews I'm seeing! Keep it up guys :P**

Another few weeks saw me through many, many hours training at my three hour-a-day training session plus me training at home like there's no tomorrow. Every time I spar with Choji he completely destroys me. Then he apologizes profusely and spends the next few days walking on eggshells around me. I rarely see much of Shihara or Choza because I completely devoted myself to some sort of training, whether it be weapon throwing, forms, punching a tree two-hundred tines, Rock Lee stye, or strength and endurance training with Ebisu-sensei. At night, I studied history. I pretty much knew all of the basic history from watching the show, and I knew how to do alot of jutsu from watching it as well. However, Ebisu refuses to train me on chakra. I still have five weeks or so left. That seems like a crazy deadline, but keep in mind that with my adult mind, I already know the stuff they teach in the first four years at the academy- it's stuff like how to write, read, add and subtract, basic algebra and geometry, most of which I can remember from highschool and college. Strategy is more common sense than anything else. However, stuff like herbology and anatomy are the things I am really going to be cramming on. Luckily, I have some talent for weapons and taijutsu. Hatake genes, don't fail me now.

I feel vibrations coming from the first stair of the staircase that leads to my room and I take my face out of my Anatomy textbook that Ebisu gave me. It doesn't feel heavy enough to be Choji, nor heavy enough to be Choza. It can't be Shihara, she's working late tonight. Again. For, like, the thirtieth time. Have I even been in Konoha for more than thirty days? I can't remember.

"Hello?" I ask, in my annoyingly high-pitched but still soft voice.

The uninvited guest shambles up the last few steps, and then, rather than pushing the door open, he leans on it. The door opens under his weight. The figure takes his hands out of his pockets and flops on my room sofa.

"Shikamaru."

"Hey."

We fell into an akward silence. I went back to studying.

He found something on the ceiling that was apparently very interesting to look at.

"My mom forced me to train all day today. You wouldn't believe it. What a drag."

"That bad, huh?"

"Mm-hmmm. She kept throwing shuriken at me every time I stopped moving. I was going to sleep the rest of the day..."

"And? You wouldn't have walked all the way to my place for no reason."

"True, true. The Akimichi are gonna have some ceremony thing tomorrow night. It's supposed to be in honor of you're adoption to the Akimichi Head Family. The Naras and Yamanakas are coming too, and the Hatakes were invited too, though I doubt they'll come."

"Oh. Cool. I hope there's food." I said, enthusiastically. I put my book down. Hopefully this would be a good chance to meet some cool people.

"That sounds exactly like something Choji would say. Anyway, Inoichi's gonna take us to go buy some formal clothes."

"When?"

"Like, right now."

"Mmmkay." I said brightly. I tied my hair back in a ponytail and put on some formal sandals. I also grabbed an umbrella. outside my window, menacing and dark clouds threatened a downpour. Shikamaru pried himself from the couch and led me out towards the Yamanaka Flower Shop where Ino and her dad were waiting for us.

* * *

"Ah. This one looks good on you!" Exclaimed Ino. We had only just met a few days before bit she was already all over me. Her shrill squeals pierced my brain better than any kunai ever could. Give her a megaphone and a picture of Sasuke and she would become a weapon of mass destruction. Shikamaru found his outfit within five minutes and was sitting outside the shop on a bench watching the rain with Choji. Although I'm sure the two had run off by now.

Ino fussed over every shirt, and touched everything in the store at least twice. The shopkeeper was a little upset, to say the least. No, that kimono is too short. That one is to small. Too frilly. Nothing was perfect, and I hate wearing dresses so that was out of the question. I finally settled for a maroon kimono with white edges that Inoichi found and a pair of cream white ninja leggings. They were infused with some kind of jutsu to keep them from staining. I really needed that in my old life. thirty minutes later, Ino bought a yellow and purple dress. Inoichi gave me an apologetic glance.

Inoichi seems like a pretty cool guy, but I still have to make sure that I don't arouse his suspicions. We walked out of the store just as Choji and Shikamaru returned from a convenience store across the street. They offered us some snacks, but Ino refused. So did I. If I am going to be a ninja, I should watch my weight a bit more. Even if I am an Akimichi now. Ino gave me an approving nod and then proceeded to chastise Choji about his lack of self control. Thankfully, she knew better than to say the F *T word. Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Inoichi quickly diverted the attention.

"How about we meet Shikaku and Choza for dinner?" He had said.

Everyone gave a chorus of assent and we walked toward a restaurant that Inoichi insisted was good.

We made our way to the back of the dining room. Choza waved his hand in the air to flag us over. both Shikamaru's parents as well as Choza were there. After dinner, we said our goodbyes and walked home, in the rain.

* * *

Poke.

Poke Poke.

Poke.

"Time to get up! You have to go to training, remember?" Came Choji's kind voice.

"I know, I know. What's for breakfast?"

"Mom made that 'French Toast' thing you showed us the other day again. It's really good."

"Awesome!" I said, rolling out of bed. Another great thing about having Choji as a brother- I don't need an alarm clock. I take advantage of his kindness way too much. I'm a terrible person.

"So, Choji," I said, "Remember what we're doing tonight?"

"Yep! I'm excited, are you?" He asks. I slip on a white sock, then the other white sock. For my ninja outfit, I wear a protective net chainmail shirt and a white undershirt over it. On top of that I wear a short sleeve maroon vest with a silver zipper and a pouch for weapons on the left side on the bottom, underneath my elbow. The vest was thick enough to stop a thrown weapon, but it's more comfortable left open. It also had a hood and the Akimichi logo in black over where my heart is. I painted on the Hatake logo in white under it. I wear black ninja pants with that gauze wrap around my right thigh and two kunai holsters. Over my white socks I have black shinobi boots. I usually make sure to put my white hair into a ponytail, but sometimes when I'm too lazy it hust goes everywhere.

"I'm not feeling lazy today! Maybe I don't need to try to get adopted into the Nara clan like Mom says I should, after all." I say.

"Oh. Do you ever... wish you were part of another clan?"

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear with a comb. "Of course not, Choji!" I smiled at him and gave him a surprise hug. "Have a good day at the Academy, okay?"

"Okay, I will. Don't forget to be at Ebisu's dojo at nine."

"I won't!" I said cheerily, and we walked down the steps to the kitchen together.

"Bye, Choji!"

"See ya!" He said.

Choji slipped through the wooden front door of our house and out into the butterfly gardens. It was slightly drizzling outside, and it was a cool morning. A fierce wind shook the trees. Autumn was coming. And, something interesting about that- in the Naruto world there aren't months, only five seasons. The first was Winter. in Winter, trees still had green leaves, and they fell off like crazy. Interesting about the trees- they most of them were the trees that were created by Hashirama Senju, and these trees we call 'Senju Trees'. They regrow leaves quickly as they fall off, so technically they are evergreen trees because they have leaves all year round. The Senju trees also could regrow it's wood and branches at an alarming rate. In the clan training grounds, there were trees that had grown around and encased forgotten kunai and shuriken as they grew. Sometimes, you would see only the rusted metal loop sticking out of the bark of a tree.

The second season is Frost, a period of incredible winds and snowstorms. Then Spring, Summer, (Which is the longest season) and Fall. Unfortunately, leaves don't change color during the fall or winter. There is only Hashirama Senju trees now.

I turned on the four slices of French Toast, four large breakfast sausages, with a plate of eggs with glee. The food didn't stand a chance. I rubbed the plate with soap and ran it under the water twice. I then dropped it in what was basically the Narutoverse version of a 'dishwasher' and slammed it closed with my hip. I'm feeling in a good mood for once. I spin around and grab the weapons pack off of the 'family weapon shelf' and clip it around my waist. Unfortunately, Ebisu is only allowing me blunted kunai. He also gave me rubber-covered shuriken.

I take my vest off a hook on the wall and head out into the cold wind. I flip my hoodie off. and check my silver-colored chakra watch on my left wrist. I'm going to be late. I shrug to myself. Oh well. I love my chakra watch. It has a little seal hidden underneath the glass pane of the watch face that shoots a little chakra projectile when you channel chakra into it. One-time use only. And I can't even use it yet. But still super cool.

I hasten unto a run and flip up my hood. The sky opens up and rain pours like one gigantic Ice Bucket Challenge, hold the ice. What a great day for training. Ebisu is probably gonna make me train outside in the rain, too, because as he likes to say, it 'Hardens the Mind'.

Not many people are out today. I am the only one running down the cobble streets. A shop owner walks outside to change a sign that says, 'Closed' to a sign that said 'open'. As I run past the clan training grounds, I hear explosions, shouts and laughter. The cover of the trees fades behind me as I run past the clan gates and into the main village. People walk through the streets, holding umbrellas. Ninjas dart across rooftops, while I'm stuck on the crowded, wet streets. I really need to learn that. I am forced to slow into a fast walk and I knock into a few people by accident. Finally I make it to Ebisu's dojo. I walk under the tasteful dark green awning on the front of the building and hurry into the refuge of the building.

"Oh, dear."

The receptionist cringes as water falls off of me and forms puddles on the ground, soaking the hallway. She opens her mouth to yell at me, but then realizes her cause is futile. She's a quick learner. I push aside the rice-paper foldable walls to enter the dojo.

"DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW LONG I'VE BEEN WAITING?!" Ebisu yells.

The gigantic amount of noise sends me flying backwards through the rice-paper wall. Why does Ebisu even use jutsu? All he needs to do is scream at his enemies to launch them through walls. He could be so overpowered, but... Anime Logic.

"Oh dear, Oh, dear..." Whines the receptionist. She doesn't even look that surprised.

I peel myself off the ground from where I was crumpled in the corner of the hallway.

"YOU MADE ME WAIT ALMOST AN HOUR! AND you know how punctuality is a valuable trait for all ninja! You must learn to be punctual! A late ninja is a ninja who does not arrive in time to protect his comrades!"

I shrugged. "Why don't you just show up an hour later than usual?" I said apathetically.

Ebisu's ears steamed. "Maybe I would, if you actually listened to me!"

He had me there.

"Yes, Ebisu-sensei."

* * *

Thanks for reading! I found the perfect song for the character Naruto Uzumaki. It's called "Behind Blue Eyes", by The Who. Here are some of the lyrics. Think about it:

"No one knows what it's like  
To be the bad man  
To be the sad man  
Behind blue eyes  
And no one knows  
What it's like to be hated..."

"But my dreams they aren't as empty  
As my conscience seems to be..."

And the funny thing is that Naruto has incredibly blue eyes... coincidence? I think not! (Illuminati Confirmed)


	6. Chapter 6: Meeting Naruto?

Hey Everyone! This story has so many views now! Like, 400 or something. Thanks for sticking around! On average, over half of the people who read any given chapter in this story go on to read the next one as well, which I am pretty happy about. Other than that, my life is really busy right now so you should probably expect a delay of one or two days on chapter releases, if you actually pay attention to this story. So, sorry about that. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Thank you howlingblackwolf for favoriting/following "TKS"!  
Thank you Silly60 for favoriting/following "TKS"!  
Thank you LilithiaWR for favoriting/following "TKS"!

* * *

"Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art." -Definitely not Gai, maybe Sasori?  
(-Stanislaw Jerzy Lec)

* * *

I run along the sidewalk of a dirty street in the more industrial section of Konoha. Barely anyone is around, save for a few people who were covered in soot and ash and are clearly totally wasted. Mom is coming home early from the hospital today to get me ready for the event that is to occur later tonight. And of course, I wasn't paying attention to the time. So, I decided to take a shortcut through the Industrial Sector to save some time. Now, I'm totally regretting that. Like, two minutes ago, some drunk bum winked at me. I shudder at the thought. _Disgusting._ And, two gutterboys tried to pick my pocket. I flung them off. Looks like my training is working, even if just a little.

Tall factory buildings and crumbling warehouses slumped around the streets. Dark alleys like pits filled with smoke opened up in between them. I run at full speed around a corner past a oddly shaped, and colorful, building with balconies and sliding doors on each floor, like a hotel. That's something I noticed about Konoha. Everything is so fucking colorful. Some buildings are even like pink or neon orange. I bet even the T&I building is a nice, canary yellow. But I'm not sure if I ever want to find out exactly what color that particular building is.

" _Smack"!_

My head connects with something very hard while running full speed. I am launched off my feet backwards. Colorful spots fill my vision, and pain momentarily resounds through my skull. I take a few seconds to recover, then look up at the thing I collided with. It wasn't a _thing._ It was a person. The person was a bit taller than me, and he had a very familiar face. He was sitting on the ground holding his head. The child was also wearing an orange T-Shirt with a jagged design on it made to look like mountains that had a vast array of colorful stains, including blood, and was smudged with ash. He was wearing blue shorts. And his hair, a bright, lemon-yellow, was smudged with ash as well and a bit of dirt. He was covered in bruises and cuts, and he had a quickly- expanding welt on his forehead. I prop myself up onto my elbows. _No Way. What are the chances of me meeting Him here?_

Naruto Uzumaki looks up and sees me on the ground. His eyes widen in shock. He opens his mouth as if to say something, but then he quickly gets up and runs off down the sidewalk.

"Waiit! Naruto!" I call after him. He slips into an alley, quick as a shadow. I pick myself off the ground leaning on a metal stair railing, and use a piece of rubble I find laying on the ground to perform the Standard Shinobi Concussion test. Looks like I'm clear. I peer into the unlit dimness of the alley. Nobody is there but a family of mice chilling out inside a tipped-over barrel. I guess I'll have to deal with him another time, because if I don't get home quickly, mom is going to kill me. I inspect my injury in the reflection of a dirty window into a bookshop. Under my hair, I have a large red mark on the top of my head. Thank God my hair is so thick, you can't see it. If mom notices, I'm going to be interrogated. Spanish Inquisition style. I pull into a run again and a few minutes later, I pass through the tall walls that separate the Industrial District from the rest of Konoha. Another ten minutes and my Shinobi sandals soundlessly slip across the cobblestone road, past the Akimichi Clan gates. I get a few approving nods from various clansmen. I don't even know who these people are.

I open the screen door to our front porch and take off my shoes. Just in time. The rain starts up again. I try not to think about what Naruto is feeling right now. Hopefully, he's not out in the rain. And those injuries he had looked awful. At least he has Kurama to patch him up. I open the door and hang my weapon pouches on wooden pegs in the entrance hallway. In the kitchen, I find Choza cooking an early dinner. It's nice not to have to cook for once.

Dad put down the pan full of delicious-smelling vegetables and chicken and gave me a huge smile.

"Hey, little girl!" He greeted me. "How was training?"

He always greets me this way, whenever he comes home before I go to sleep. He ruffles my hair, and I duck.

"It was fine." I reply. Even his eyes are smiling. I guess he really likes me.

"And Ebisu-sensei?" He turns around and stirs the pan with a wooden spoon.

"He's good. He promised me he's gonna teach me how to use chakra once I balance on top of a wooden broomstick for ten minutes."

"Any luck?" He asked, sincerely.

"I don't think he's gonna accept twenty seconds. I'm not even close." I take off my jacket and toss it onto the kitchen counter, then plop down on the sofa. I hear the _Thump-Thump-Thump_ of Choji hopping down the stairs.

"Well, I'm sure you'll do it eventually. I can help you practice if you like," dad offers, but I know it's an empty suggestion. He never has the time for that sort of thing.

"Don't worry about it. But thanks for the offer. It's the thought that counts." He pauses in stirring for a second, and then takes the pan off the burner and grabs a few plates from the upper counter. I can tell he wishes he could spend more time with me and Choji. That's the thing with shinobi parents. Good thing my adult mind can deal with it.

"Hey Sarah!" Says Choji enthusiastically. Choji is hiding his hands behind his back suspiciously.

"Hey, Choji. How was school?"

"Good. Hey, I got you a present, considering tonight's occasion and all..." Choji trailed off.

My brother held his hands out and uncurled his left fist. Inside his hand was a sparkling butterfly hairclip made of light blue jewels and a silver metal. I sat up to receive the present. I wrapped him up in a tight hug.

"Thank you, Choji!" I exclaimed. He pulled away and put it in my hair. "See? It has a three exploding senbon in it in case of an emergency." He said. I hugged him again.

"Alright, kids. Time for dinner!" Called dad. The delicious smells of chicken and dumplings and mashed potatoes call from the table. Choji, Choza and I sat down at the table and dug in. Dad gave us a ton of food. And, while my face is still fairly thin, (Probably thanks to my Hatake heritage) the rest of me probably shouldn't suffer any more weight than it already has. Although my adult mind tells me I shouldn't worry about it, I definitely do not need Ino on my case about dieting. People who think Naruto is loud and annoying haven't met Ino yet. We finished up eating. Dad saw the food I left on the plate and gave me a questioning look. I shrugged. After dinner, I cleaned up the dishes and we moved into the family room to be briefed by dad on the celebration tonight. Basically, whenever a child of the head family of the Yamanaka, Akimichi, or Nara clans enters the academy, there is a celebration. However, since I am the first child of a clan head to be adopted after the academy entrance age, we have to do things a little differently. We're basically going to the Akimichi Clan Hall, listening to a speech, and then stuffing ourselves with food. Sounds pretty fun.

* * *

Chapter 6 is done! I decided not to include the actual festival because the chapter was getting a little long and there won't be a good stopping point to end the chapter for a while. If you guys want action, in a few chapters when Sarah makes some more friends things will get more exciting. Thanks for reading!

-Conoreo


	7. Chapter 7: Mini Chapter!

Hey everyone. I'm trying to be a better writer, because, lets be honest here, every time I look into a real, good book written by an actually _good_ author I cringe. I really need to improve my skills. Hopefully by chapter 50 or 100 I'll be a Fanfic Wizard. Ok. Time for more practice!

Thank you UOxOU for following/favoriting "TKS"! Welcome aboard!  
Thank you Ghostmomsisters52 for following/favoriting "TKS"! Welcome aboard!  
Thank you james. for following/favoriting "TKS"! Welcome aboard!  
Thank you NamelessOne0 for following/favoriting "TKS"! Welcome aboard!  
Thank you Angel Hatake for helping me out with this chapter!

* * *

"I mean, we're ninjas."

"Well maybe you're a ninja," I said

"You're just a really loud, awkward ninja," Margo said, "but we are both ninjas."  
― John Green, Paper Towns

(This quote has nothing to do with anything but it was too awesome to pass up)

* * *

Choji headed up the stairs to get ready for the festival, while I heaved myself off the couch and onto a rocking chair outside. I listened to the rain, contently. Rain

drizzled down and a soft wind blew through the forest of the Akimichi clan compound. It was probably raining a lot harder in reality than it actually seemed, because the

thick Hashirama trees shelter the ground from the driving rain. Thunder rumbled. It seems like the storm is getting closer. In Konoha, when it storms, it storms _big_.

They stick around and coat everything with as many teardrops as they can before saying their goodbyes. I hope it isn't foreshadowing of my future as a shinobi. The

peace and quiet gave me a moment to think about things. I haven't had the opportunity to do that recently.

The past week and a half have been filled with getting used to the new dimension, training like there's no tomorrow, and all sorts of other crazy stuff. Sounds crazy

when you put it into perspective. Part of me doesn't believe that only a few short weeks ago I was a living person in another world. Maybe I was born in this world with

future knowledge, and lost my memories, then had a crazy, vivid dream about another world? No. That's even crazier. But I'm still surprised at how quickly I adapted to

my new life. But besides that, in this new world I have more responsibility than I ever had. I know the future. All of the lives of the people who were killed in the

Narutoverse are now my responsibility. That thought is absolutely terrifying. Can you imagine the weight of a thousand lives in your hands? I still can't. Besides, nobody

will take me seriously if some wanna-be ninja tries to change the world. All the more reason that I need to become stronger and train. Not just to catch up with Sasuke

and Naruto but also so that I can change the world and prevent as many deaths as possible. If you think about it, only the strong in the Narutoverse are the most

important. Hashirama, Madara, Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, Obito, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Orochimaru, Minato, Itatchi, Pein... These are the characters we think of when we

think about Narutoverse characters. Characters like Sakura, civilians, and other character's little siblings are the ones that we don't typically think about. These are the

people who are the least significant. Why? Because they are weak.

I hear footsteps behind me over the peaceful lull of the rain. Dad comes through the doorway, and sits himself in a rocking chair on the opposite side of the doorway

from me. The sun is almost gone over the horizon, but the sunset is blocked by the dark, black clouds.

"So. What's on your mind?" He finally asked.

"The future."

"Ahh." A pause. " A very scary thing to think about."

"It is." I replied. He has no idea.

"What are your hopes and dreams?" He asks. I don't answer.

"Why did you adopt me?" I ask. "You don't even have enough time to deal with me. Even I know you don't need any more stress than you already have."

He gave me a pained look, and then he sighed.

"It wasn't for publicity, or for my reputation. When I found out that there was an Akimichi without a family, I offered myself, because I care about my clan even if it's a

distant relative or not. Somebody else may have offered, but you're Akimichi and you belong here. I could feel it when I saw you. I just... feel like an empty space is

filled when you're around..."

I was honestly kind of shocked. My face flushed with embarrassment. Dad deserves way better than what I give to him.

"I didn't know I meant so much to you, dad. I'm sorry."

Choza and I stood up, and he wrapped me in a hug, kissing me on the forehead.

"You and Choji mean everything to me no matter how important my duty to the clan is. I'm sorry I don't have enough time to be the father you wish I could be. By the

way, what is that red mark on your head? Ebisu didn't do that to you, did he?"

Uh oh. Here we go...

The door opens and Choji strolls outside in a nice formal outfit.

"Hey!"

"Hey, Choji. Looks good!"

"Thanks!"

Choza gives him a nod of approval.

"But, anyway, I'm done, So you can use the shower now." Says Choji.

"Thanks!" I say, and I walk inside and up the stairs toward the bathroom.

Our house goes like this:

When you walk in the door, there is a hallway that goes to the most important room in our house- the kitchen. Straight through the kitchen is the dining room, and to the left is the family room. Connecting the dining room and the family room is a relatively small, private dojo. From the kitchen, if you walk in a little bit, to the right there is a bathroom, and to the left there is a staircase upstairs. There is another staircase upstairs in the dojo as well. In the middle of the kitchen is a table where we eat and Choji does homework. All the rooms are very large, and quite cozy. Technically since we are the Akimichi head family we could afford mansions stacked on mansions, but Choza insists that we live in a house at least similar to the other clan members' homes.

Upstairs is a foyer that lets you look down into the family room. down the foyer on one side is Choza and Shihara's bedroom and bathroom, and at the end of the foyer above the dojo is my room and Choji's room, right next to each other. In between the two rooms is a large bathroom.

I quickly shower and wash my hair. I put on my new outfit and the butterfly hairpin Choji gave me. I'm wearing a long, black coat that trails down to my lower thighs and doesn't connect in the middle, exposing a white button-down shirt underneath. I leave the top button of the shirt open and wear a fishnet chain-mail shirt underneath. Ninjas are always prepared. A small black skirt extends just past the jacket. The lady at the clothes shop insisted that the outfit would look great with my hair. I turn around in front of the mirror. I have to say, it absolutely does. It's more of a modern style, for this world, anyway. Ninjas tend to expose some sort of ninja gear no matter what the situation, like my armor. It isn't exactly a threat, per se, but it commands respect.

I run down the stairs and jump down the last ten. Not something I could really do in my old life, for sure.

"I'm ready!" I announced. Choji and Choza were waiting by the door. "Where's mom?"

"She's gonna meet us at the welcoming celebration." Choza informed me.

"You look good!"

"Thanks, Choji!" I said.

Dad grabbed a big umbrella and we all huddled under it and walked out into the driving rain.

* * *

I know it's a boring chapter, but I feel like I need to lead up to the bigger events that are coming up.


	8. Chapter 8: Naruto

Naruto nearly cried in despair. For the second time that week, his apartment was trashed. And he didn't even have enough money to get a new home. Akidora was kind enough to rent out this apartment, because the Third Hokage told her to. She avoids Naruto like Sasuke avoids Naruto and Sakura.

Naruto took in the disaster that used to be his three room, (If you count the bathroom) apartment on the third floor. Milk was spilled everywhere, and everything in his refrigerator was taken out and replaced with street rubble and garbage. He jumped straight up onto his counter. Cereal crunched under his feet as he stood on the wood surface. He opened a cabinet. Even all his ramen cups were stolen. He sighed.

Naruto had caught his assailants red-handed this time. But even though he had been training constantly, and at the academy he had learned a few new moves over the past few years, but he couldn't bring himself to defend himself. He let them beat him.

He would rather those civilian punks hurt him than he hurt them.

Besides, Naruto reasoned, he heals crazy hast, and their punches didn't hurt as much as they probably should have.

 _"Maybe I'm just used to it now,"_ he thought to himself. Besides, if he hurt any of the civilian children, that would have just further solidified his reputation as a monster. He wouldn't get any respect at all for hurting them. That's what he really wanted. Some respect. If he has to yell and pull pranks to get attention, he'll do it. He was starving for attention that wasn't, in the most literal sense, a punch to the face.

Naruto hopped down from the counter to the ground and landed in a three-pointed crouch. Right into the milk. The yellow haired boy slipped and fell on his side on the slippery tile floor. He cursed himself silently and picked up the milk container. There was still some left, but the cap was nowhere to be seen. Oh well. Naruto opened the refrigerator and placed the mostly-empty container on the bottom of the fridge. The vandals had gleefully tossed the fridge shelves out the window into the dark back alley. Naruto balled his fist in anger, and then punched the wall closest to him.

"Fuck!" He exclaimed.

The noise echoed through the small home and a dent in the wall formed under his attack. At least there were no nosy neighbors to come complain about the noise. They all moved out years ago. He walked over to the window, stepping over tipped over chairs and an overturned sofa. He picked up Mr. Pebbles, his pet cactus from the windowsill and checked under the flowerpot. There were a few copper coins under the small clay saucer. Thank God Mr. Pebbles and his money were alright. Strangely, vandals seemingly destroyed everything in the house but his plants. Naruto liked keeping plants. He named them all, too. Mr. Pebbles, of course, and then there was Mr. Pots, Mr. Prickles, and Ms. Sandy. They were all potted plants he rescued from garbage piles and dark alleys around the city. Naruto snatched up the coins and replaced Mr. Pebbles. He was low on money. He didn't have enough to buy enough milk, bread, eggs, and restock his entire pantry. He mentally made a list of the things he needed to buy after he got his money from the Sandaime on Saturday. Unfortunately, it wasn't much. If the Third gave Naruto too much money, the civilian council and especially the people who hated Naruto would call him out for 'favoritism towards a murderous monster' and try to usurp his power. The Konoha government was no longer the militaristic absolutist powerhouse it used to be.

Naruto walked over towards the door and exited his apartment, taking care to lock it this time. But even locking the door wouldn't do much against an angry mob.

The small jinchurriki descended the metal stairwell and left through a deserted, neglected lobby and a entrance door that was hanging off his hinges. Naruto made a mental note to fix that too, when he had the time. He wouldn't have the time. He made a right, down the sidewalk. Emotions swirled in his head. What he needed was to go training. His body hurt from the brutal beating earlier, but the best way to clear his head was to spend a few, good hours of punching down trees.

 _"A little exercise oughtta do it!"_ He thought to himself. He permitted a small smile to take hold on his face.

Naruto broke out into a sprint.

' _Smack!'_

Just as he passed the corner of his humble apartment building, his face made contact with something very hard and he crashed to the ground backwards, landing on his butt. Naruto sat up, holding his head. It felt like someone hit him in the head with a wooden plank repeatedly, which might have actually happened to him sometime in his life. The boy couldn't remember. He looked up at the cause of the pain, but there was nothing there. Then she saw her. A short girl, slightly shorter than him even, that had silvery white hair that glistened like sparkles on water. She had a round face with high cheekbones. Her eyes were closed. She was wearing a ninja outfit but no headband, and she was, Naruto noticed, a little chubby in her belly. _"like Choji,"_ Naruto noticed. Maybe he would ask him about her tomorrow. Maybe, since she was wearing that outfit, she even went to the academy. He dismissed the thought, though. _"How could I ever forget hair like that?"_ Naruto stared at the silver hair for another moment, until she blearily opened her eyes and began to move. He suddenly jumped up in horror.

 _He was the one who had knocked that_ girl _down. He hurt her._

 **"Don't you see, Naruto?"** Came a loud, growling voice from somewhere inside of him.

Naruto's eyes widened in fear. The voice was back.

 **"You hurt people. That's what you are, that's what you do. The fact that you exist hurts people. You're a monster... Like Me."**

The growling voice finally stopped.

"No! I'm not! I will never be like you!" screamed Naruto in his mind at whatever that voice was. All he heard was deep, grumbling laughter. The jinchurriki host ran into a nearby alley, terrified.

"Wait, Naruto!" He heard the girl scream from back on the road. Naruto hid himself behind a crate. His face flushed with white, hot embarrassment and anger. How had that girl known his name? He never saw her before in his life, but she called him by his real name instead of mean names or derogatory language. He never wanted to see her again. She would be so mad she might even beat him up. Naruto's street senses suddenly made him aware of someone behind him. He looked over his shoulder. There was nobody there. He looked upward, toward the rooftops. There. A ninja with silvery-white hair stood on the top of his apartment building, peering down at the two over the edge of an orange book. His hair was like the girl's, but more grey-ish white. And also strangely vertical.

Kakashi's only visible eye widened in surprise, and not many things surprised Kakashi. The little kid had noticed him. But it's not like he was concealing his chakra. Any good genin should have seen him. Maybe he was a natural sensor. Lucky bastard.

The ninja on the rooftop suddenly blurred, green and white. Then he was gone, too fast for anyone but another elite jonin or an Uchiha to see. Almost like he was invisible. There weren't a lot of either around anymore. Naruto rubbed his eyes and tried to remember if the mysterious ninja had ever been there in the first place or if it was just a figment of his imagination. He couldn't remember.

Back at the apartment, Naruto began the boring task of fixing up his home once again. Outside, lightning flashed. it started to rain.


	9. Chapter 9: The Party (finally!)

So everyone, chapter 9. 9 is a really big number. And you know which big number comes after 9? 49. And then 69. And then 109.

* * *

"I'm gonna put a cool quote here"

-Conoreo

* * *

People wearing green, red, and yellow stood around everywhere, holding drinks, eating, and talking. The tables were all set up in the center of the room. There was music. A live band, to be exact. Apparently, Japanese music isn't really my thing. I'll have to introduce this world to some good songs from my last one.

"Come on Shikamaru, let's dance! The band came back from a break and stood on the stage again. There were drums, a variant of the acoustic guitar, a violin, a singer, a piano, and just about everything else. Shikamaru slumped over his glass of red liquid and he mumbled a few incoherent words. I held my hand out to him.

"Dearest Shikamaru Nara, won't you do me the honor of a dance?" I said, in a farce British accent. I laughed.

"More like the horror of a dance. What kinda accent is that?" He mumbled.

"Don't worry about it. Come on, get up!"

Ino, who was chatting incessantly with her Yamanaka friends, walked by the table and smacked Shikamaru on the back of the head with her plate.

"Get up, Shikamaru! The special girl asked you for a dance and you're gonna let her down on her special night! Lazy ass!" she exclaimed. "Every guy has been asking to dance with her!"

Shikamaru slowly pulled himself up, using my hand for support.

"So, we're dancing then?"

"Sure." He replied.

"Oh wait, Sarah, before you go, meet Rauya, Iuli, Lily,... Hey wait, where'ya going?" Chatted Ino.

Shikamaru suddenly seemed very motivated to get up. He grabbed my hand and we speedwalked away towards the dance floor. Shikamaru turned towards me and raised his arms up, and my hands connected with his. He was actually a very good dancer. All of his motions were perfectly smooth, and he didn't waste a single calorie of energy. I'd like to see him fight, for real, while he's motivated.

Shikamaru pulled me in close, and spun me around.

"So." He said. "How's training going?"

"It's fine." I replied, For shinobi, asking how training is going is like annoying family members asking about school, and sports, and everything else...

"So I bumped into this kid today on the streets. He was quite... Unique."

"Who?" He asked, not really interested.

"Naruto Uzumaki. Ever heard of him?"

Shikamaru met my gaze. I could tell wheels were turning behind his black irises.

"You stuck around him long enough for him to tell you his name?"

"Naw. I already knew it."

"Hmmm. Yeah, he's in my class at the academy." He sighed. "He makes a lot of loud noises."

"I can see how that would be bad for napping."

"Uh-huh. So, did you say anything to him?"

"No."

"I see." He said simply.

"Shikamaru."

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Do you even know what people do to him?"

"Well yeah, he is the village pariah for some reason. People call him names and hurt him all the time, and all the teachers but one sabotage his grades. I've seen them do it."

"How can you do that if your eyes are closed the whole time?" I joked.

"Very funny."

I laughed at his sarcastic-ness.

"So what happened to him?"

"He had bruises and cuts and welts all over him. When he moved, it looked like he was in pain. He had a black eye, too. And by the way he acted, it didn't look like it was the first time."

Shikamaru looked troubled. "I'll see if he is still injured tomorrow in class. But maybe that's why he skips school so often. Still, I've never seen a single scratch on him."

"Well, I don't know what it is, but if he didn't have enough money to buy a new shirt that didn't have holes and stains in it, then there's no way that kid can afford medical care."

"Kekkai Genkai?" He asked.

"Only healing kekkai genkai I know of is the Senju's."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows. "So, you think that Tsunade Senju isn't the only Senju alive? Or are you implying that she..."

"No, I'm not implying that at all." I cut him off. "Maybe he's a half-breed."

"He would have to be a half-breed if he is related to the Senju. His hair color, eye color, and those weird lines on his cheeks don't match with traditional Senju traits." Said Shikamaru. "Besides, half breeds rarely get both clan traits. It's almost impossible."

"I did." I said, slapping him in the face with a fistfull of silver hair.

"Good point. But it's still highly unlikely, so maybe a henge?" He wondered.

"No. Someone would have noticed."

"I guess so."

"So, he's a cross-breed. He has blue eyes and yellow hair, but he seems to be from Senju descent." I summed up. "Who can you think of that's from a clan and has yellow hair, blue eyes, and is related to the Senju?"

"I'm not very educated on foreign clans." Shikamaru answered.

I leaned in to his ear. "I'll give you a hint: Rasengan!" Shikamaru's eyes widened for just a second, and then he shrugged. "You already know who it is. And that explains why he has no parents. You just don't want to believe it."

"You really think so? Don't you think he would be better in the academy if Naruto was related to _Him?_ "

"Do you think you could learn the shadow possession jutsu if the Nara clan didn't exist?"

The song ended, and we took a step away from each other and bowed, as was custom. Shikamaru walked me to the buffet, and he got us some food. The food was really, really, Really good. And there was a LOT of food. I guess that's what you need for a party with 200 people. I had no idea I was such a big deal. I swear, I now know like every single Akimichi there is to be known. That's like, sixty or seventy people.

"So, tell me, how do you know all this? You show up out of nowhere, nobody knows who your parents are, and suddenly you know secrets so secret that nobody in Konoha even knows. Except you, apparently." Accused Shikamaru.

"Why are you being so suspicious? It's just reasoning and logic. Of all people, you should have been the one to notice this."

"Hmm. I guess so." He said.

"Don't tell anyone about this, though. Not even him. The knowledge that his parents were willing to sacrifice him for the village won't do him any good until he is older and he can process the knowledge."

"Yeah, you're right." Said Shikamaru. "But now that we know this, what should we do?"

"You're the strategist, you tell me." I joked.

"Well, I guess it's our duty as shinobi to help support him, at least. But how will we do this in secret?"

"We should just be his friend, that's all. He seems like a pretty nice guy. He's just starving for attention and doesn't know how to get it. But the fact that he is the related to the Fourth Hokage is still an S-Rank secret. We can't afford to tell anyone. If someone finds out, Including Naruto, we will be on a fun trip to work with Inoichi, and that is something that I definitely do not want."

"You're right. But how hasn't anyone else noticed?"

"They don't want to notice. They've already ruled out the possibility. You, of all people, should have noticed it."

"I guess that's true." He said.

I grabbed his hand and tugged Shikamaru after me. "Come on, let's go!"

"To where?"

"Naruto's place!"

"Oh, yeah. Shouldn't we go find Choji and Ino?"

"Naw." I said. I hurried to the food table, Nara in tow, and grabbed a plate and heaped food onto it.

"Is that for Naruto?" Shikamaru asks.

"No, it's for the road on the way there."

"That was sarcastic, right?" He asked.

"Of course not!"

"Ino would throw a fit if she saw you holding that much food." Shikamaru chastised.

"Well, you're not Ino." I grab a few bowls from the table and fill them with food, three more with ramen, and Shikamaru takes them from me. Shikamaru holds plates over the bowls so it doesn't spill and we walk out into the lobby. The receptionist saw me, and she looked surprised.

"Shikamaru-san, Sarah-san! Where are you two going!?"

"Oh. I left my curling iron on at home, and I wouldn't want to burn my house down."

"Well, why don't you ask a servant to do it then? Wait a minute! Your hair is straight!"

Too late. Shikamaru and I were already out the revolving glass doors, giggling. What a sucker.

I looked up. It was around eleven-thirty, and the village was just winding down. The stars in the sky glittered and danced above us, and the night air was cold enough that our breaths were visible in the air, like little ghosts. An occasional shout could be heard, from somewhere. In the Akimichi compound, all of the trees had paper lanterns hanging from their branches, just enough for the path to be visible. Their warm light enclosed us from the leaves of the gigantic trees that towered up, far past the heavens, so high that when the leaves rustled in the slight breeze they scraped against the stars, washing us with stardust. Shikamaru slipped his hand into mine. What a beautiful night.

I felt my mind wander as we walked towards the gates. Where is Sasuke right now? How about Obito? Is he asleep in his bed, dreaming about Rin and Kakashi and the good old days? Is Kakashi sitting at the Hero's Stone? Is Gaara flooding his village with sand? IS Deidara sculpting his next, elegant masterpiece? What does Deidara sculpt in his pastime? for fun? Will I ever get the chance to ask him?

Shikamaru nudged me to the side so that I would avoid hitting a flowerbox, hanging from a wooden pole. He offered me a smile.  
We exited the Akimichi compound and moved silently through the streets. Soon, we were at the walls of the Industrial Sector.

"You ever been here before?" I ask Shikamaru. Shikamaru steps past the walls.

"Now I have." he replies. I remember the way back to his apartment and soon I spot the colorful, broken-down apartment building. We walk up the outside steps to the third floor.

"Naruto!" I call. "Naaaruto!" No response.

"I can sense him." whispered Shikamaru.

"I didn't know you were a natural sensor." I said. Shikamaru chuckled.

"I'm not. It's just that now that I'm actually paying attention to how his chakra feels, it feels like fucking sunshine and rainbows. You can't miss it. His chakra must be massive."

"where else could he be?" I ask. Shikamaru shrugged.

"It feels like he's... on the roof?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out." I say, and I break my hand away from his and I swing myself over to the outside of the building and latch on to the fire escape ladder. I climb up quickly, and pull myself over the edge of the roof. Shikamaru is right behind me. I search for Naruto, but I don't see him.

"There he is." Says Shikamaru, pointing up. I look up, and then I see him. He's laying down ontop of a small watertower that's elevated about fifteen feet above the rooftop. He has his legs folded upwards, and his left hand behind his head. With the other hand, he is pointing up to the stars, trying to fit his index finger directly over a twinkling silver star. I walk up to the water tower and climb up a ladder to the top.

"Huh? Who's there?" Asks Naruto. I pop my head up over the edge of the water tower.

"AAH! _Pretty hair girl?!_ How did _You_ get here!?" He yelled, rolling over to face me and pointing a finger at me.

I climbed on to the top of the water tower and laid down next to him. Shikamaru followed me up and laid down beside me. I pointed my finger up, at the stars, just like Naruto was before.

"Ever wonder what those stars are made of?" I ask, quietly.

"Well, no... Not _really..._ " He said.

Damn I love his voice. Whoever was his English Dub voice actor got it spot on. There's like a special quality to it that makes it not smooth and soft like mine, it's kinda like, rough I guess. It's weird. Still high-pitched though. Unlike Shikamaru.

"Their just like our Sun, just really, really, really far away so they look tiny. But they all have their own planets orbiting them, just like ours does."

"What does 'orbiting' mean?" Asks Naruto. Shikamaru smacks himself in the face.

"It's like going around in a circle around another object." I explain.

"Are they made of fire?" He asks.

"No." Now I have Shikamaru's attention. "They are made of gas. the light forms when little tiny pieces of gas join together to make other gases and there's some extra energy left over." I explain, in the most simple terms I can think of.

"Cool! Can I touch one?" Naruto asks. "And by the way, _What the Heck Are You Even Doing Here!"_

"Oh. Show him, Shikamaru." Shikamaru climbs down the water tower and brings up the bowls of food.

"I knew I smelled food!" said Naruto after being presented with the barbecue. "But I thought it was just my imagination because I was so hungry. I mean, I can have some, ya'know?"

Naruto takes the plates off the bowls and a white steam that probably represented the smell of the food left the bowl and filled his nose. He took a deep breath.

"Thanks, Chubby-chan! You're the greatest!"

Shikamaru stared at Naruto with wide eyes. "Quick! Naruto! Take that back! She's Choji's sister!"

Naruto looked at me in fright, and then grabbed the edges of my jacket and started comically crying into my shirt, anime-style.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry..." sobbed Naruto. I felt something odd on the side of my head. It was an anime-style sweat drop. Apparently, that's a thing.

Naruto looked up at my face to determine my reaction. I gave him a sickly sweet smile, and I eye-smiled just like Kakashi does. No, I will not admit to anyone that I spent multiple hours in front of a mirror practicing eye-smiling.

"My name is Sarah. And don't call me that again, or..." I flashed the creepiest grin I could muster. "Once I become a jonin, I'll simply _have_ to vote for Sasuke as the next Hokage."

Naruto backed away from me in horror, and Shikamaru looked totally nonplussed.

"No, no! I didn't mean it, I swear!" cried Naruto. "Thank you for the food!"

I smiled for real. "You're welcome."

"What?" What just happened?" asks Shikamaru. "I'm so done with you guys."

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ok this chapter is finally over omg y ppl just stood around and talked the entire chapter i need some actionnnnn


	10. Chapter 10: chakra

"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose."

-Lyndon B. Johnson

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The broom handle digs uncomfortably into the arch of my left foot. I jump n the air and switch feet.

"First Mizukage?" Asks Ebisu-sensei.

"Byakuren."

"Second?"

"Gengetsu Hozuki."

"Fourth?"

"Yagura." I hopped up off the vertical broomstick straight up into the air and switched feet again.

"Weight of a kunai?"

"four-hundred grams."

"Kumogakure standard kunai weight?"

"three-hundred and fifty grams."

he gives me a rather serious look and adjusts his glasses. "You pass."

I hop off of the broomstick and tumble ungracefully to the ground with joy. A huge smile breaks out on my face. For the past thirty minutes, Ebisu-sensei made me balance on top of a vertical broomstick and answer questions from last year's Graduation Exam. Currently, there are only two and a half more weeks until the exam. I have been studying hard, but mostly focusing on my physical abilities. Last training session, we sparred. I forced Ebisu to use both of his feet with a vicious kick to the head that he had to jump away from to dodge. So, I'm improving. Better than Naruto, at least. I sparred with him a few times over the past few weeks. He's strong, but he obviously doesn't pay attention in class.

I beat him.

Not much of an accomplishment, but considering I've only been training for just under three months, it's huge for me. Now, technically I've been training for longer than that. Ebisu uses a special kind of training where he uses genjutsu to let me train mentally for a month, while only twelve hours have passed in real life. However, this can potentially cause brain damage, so it was a last resort. i am determined not to fall behind everyone else.

Ebisu levels a even glare at me.

"Okay. I'll teach you chakra control now, as per the agreement. But you got lucky on that, because I talked to Hokage-sama, and according to him he is allowing a special exam for you to make up for the limited time constraints we are under due to your amnesia so that you do not fall behind your peers. He is willing to forgo your lack of knowledge of two of the basic three academy jutsu if you achieve a perfect score on your written test and a ninety percent or higher on your weapons exam."

"Thank you, Ebisu-sensei!" I cheered.

"Of course. Now, sit down and assume meditation position one."

I sit down and fold my legs over each other, criss-crossed.

"Take a deep breath, and hold it for five seconds. Then, continue to do that until I say stop, wherapon you will hold your breath for as long as you can. You will feel slight pain. Nothing worse than I have given you, though. Don't worry too much."

He adjusts his glasses again.

"Okay, and... Stop."

I hold my breath and Ebisu places one hand on my forehead, and and another one above my heart. Suddenly, a bang across the room breaks his and my concentration.

"Right in here." The receptionist girl ushers in Choji through the sliding doors of the dojo.

"Hey!" Exclaims Choji. "Have they already unlocked your chakra?"

"Nope." I reply, and I close my eyes again and begin to meditate. I can feel Ebisu bristling with annoyance.

"Can I watch?" Asks Choji.

"Yep. Just stand over there, behind those targets. She has an unusually huge chakra for her age and size, so things might get thrown around a little. That's why you're supposed to unlock kid's chakra when they're babies..." Ebisu mutters.

Choji moves over behind the targets.

It's definitely good that I have a large chakra. Definitely. Probably my adult mind and my robust body playing into that, and as I grow and get stronger, it'll only get bigger.

I begin to meditate and Ebisu places his hands on my forehead and heart again. I hold my breath.

"Wow. It's so... stable. That's amazing." I hear Ebisu's voice.

"What? Is it over yet?" I ask. I open my eyes. Suddenly, I feel a... feeling spread from my heart, slowly up to my head, then down, through my legs, and up into my arms, spreading over each hand and foot. It feels like... Warmth. It feels like I'm filling up with slow, thick, heated chocolate from the inside out, swirling around my heart. I gasp audibly.

"Well? What does it feel like?" Ebisu asks.

"What do you mean? Don't you have chakra too?"

"Well, I've been living with it since I was two years old, so I don't really know what it feels like anymore."

"It feels... Amazing." I stutter out. "Like a part of my I've been missing is there again."

The chakra felt like a long-lost friend, filling me up with a pent-up, excited energy. Like I could walk on water, or run a thousand miles, or fly. It's just totally undescribable. I feel it the strongest over my heart, where the energy seems to swirl around in circles like a friendly hurricane. I try to focus the feeling out towards my arm, but it stays in it's current position. On the third try, the spiraling energy unfurls and falls toward my hand, complying in a friendly way. The chakra moved slowly, not beneath my skin, but in a way that felt like it was in another realm. The river of chakra flowing within me towards my hand began to deteriorate as I struggled to push it further. it seemed like stretching a rubber band- it wanted to go back towards my heart _Really Really_ badly. my chakra began to have a nervous-feeling quality as I forced what little bit I could still control down my arm and into my index finger.

There, on my index finger, a small glow began to shine. A blue light. I watched in amazement and disapointment as my fingertip glowed a friendly blue, then flickered and went out. Yes, I said blue chakra. Not white chakra.

When I looked up, I saw that Choji and Ebisu, who looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head through his glasses, were crowding around me, watching. The room was dead silent for a while, until I broke the silence.

"Did I do it?"

"Such... Such control! I've never seen anything like it! You must be incredibly chakra sensitive! That must explain why you feel the warmth of your chakra in such a strong manner!" Ebisu exclaims.

A large grin appears on my face. _I did a thing. hooray me._ I don't know how I did it, but... Whatever. The chakra returned calmly and began to swirl around my heart again. Now that I think about it, I could feel something different about Choji and Ebisu. Something that I only noticed subconsciously before. Choji had a warm and friendly air about him, and Ebisu had a strong and excitable quality to him, with a quirk of weirdness I still can't quite understand.

"Follow me." Ebisu said, adjusting his glasses once more. "Let's go do some control exercises. Normally we wouldn't do this for months or years after one's chakra is awakened, but the extraordinary stability of your chakra may allow you to begin much sooner. Choji, will you accompany us outside?"

Choji and I followed Ebisu-sensei down the hallway outside the dojo and to the left, walking down a long hallway that paralleled the dojo until we exited the back door into a small, city garden, walled off by a tall wooden fence. Ebisu grabbed a senbon and tossed one to me. I skillfully caught it between my thumb and my index finger. He handed Choji a kunai. We sat down on a few boulders that were strewn across the garden.

"The object of this lesson," said Ebisu formally, is to attach the object I have given you to the back of your palm by using your chakra. To do this, simply create a rotating circle of chakra, half inside of your hand, half outside. The spinning force of your chakra re-entering your hand will cause it to 'stick' to your hand, like so."

Ebisu held up his hand and showed that the senbon was securely pinned to the back of his hand. I always wondered how chakra, in some cases, seemed to be 'sticky', and in some cases not. The answer is actually quite simple- eject chakra from a part of your body, and then draw it back into the area you want the item to stick to. The energy, because it is not fully physical, flows through the object into your hand, pinning the object to your hand. Very easy in concept. Not in application. I held out my hand and placed the senbon on the back of my hand. It slid off. I spent a few minutes searching for it in the grass, and put it back onto my hand.

Drawing chakra into my palm is hard enough, but it seemed to be getting slightly easier every time I do it. However, after I move it to my palm is the real hard part. Streaming it out of my hand in a concentrated loop and pulling it back in through the object was even more difficult, let alone concentrating enough chakra to get it to have enough physical-ness to be able to use it to pull the senon back in. Too much chakra in the rotating loop would cause the loop to spin faster and smash the senbon into my hand, very painfully. Too little and the chakra would not be physical enough to hold the throwing needle onto my hand.

"Oh- Oh! YES! I Got It!" I stood up and held my arms up in the air like an American football ref confirming a touchdown. Finally, after two hours, I had success. The senbon stuck to my hand, even though my arms were up in the air.

"You got it?" Asks Choji.

"Yep!"

"Nice! try making a kunai stand up on end on the tip of your finger, like I'm doing."

"You mean, like you're trying to do." I corrected.

"Well... Yeah."

Ebisu left a while ago to teach another student, after showing off how he could make the senbon float above his hand and flip, and do tons of tricks.

"You wanna go home?" I ask Choji.

"Sure... I give up. This is stupid."

I shrug. "You'll get it eventually."

I grab my training supplies and Choji picks up his school backpack and we head out of the dojo. (Choji was skipping school, by the way.)

"I'm hungry." Choji announces, after we leave the dojo.

"Same here, but we have some stuff at home. I went to the market yesterday." I assert.

"Your cooking is great and all, but can't we eat out for lunch?"

I look over at him and smile. "As long as I get to pick the restaurant. And thanks for your attempt to be nice."

"Sure. Your pick."

"Mmmm... Let's go to Ichiraku ramen and see if Naruto is there."

Naruto wasn't at Ichiraku, but we ordered ramen anyway. My favorite is pork ramen, in case you were wondering. (I happen to be allergic to beef so I ask Teuchi to substitute pork instead.) In honor of my numerous visits to Ichiraku's, Teuchi added pork ramen to the menu. What a fantastic guy.

The door creaked open, and Choza silently closed it behind him downstairs. For the past few hours, I have been laying in bed, trying to move the chakra around in my body. I reached out to him with my new sensing abilities. It's not like I couldn't sense things before, but now that I actually know what chakra feels like, it's much easier to look for it and feel it in other people. There are thin traces of it in the air from used jutsu that hang around Konoha like little tiny clouds of mist. Occasionally, as I'm walking around, I feel a sudden and short warm pocket of air. That's concentrated chakra. I think. but I'm developing theories about chakra. Is chakra a living thing, and you have to use handsigns to communicate to it so it can do your bidding? Do all of us actually have two bodies, one made of chakra and one normal? Or is chakra a separate, intelligent person, living inside us? Are all chakras connected in a way we can't see? How does moving chakra through your body actually work? Why does chakra like to concentrate in certain areas?

I pick up my practice senbon from my nightstand and try to attach it to my index finger again, drawing chakra out into a loop and through it, pulling it back in. I've gotten a little better at manipulating chakra. I figured out that by keeping the chakra loop closer to my skin, I won't lose as much to the Dissipation Effect, which states that chakra dissipates if it isn't in a chakra circuit. But the chakra is so thin you can't actually see it, because senbon don't weigh much so I don't need a large amount. I reach onto my bedside desk again and grasp a thin book. I try to attach it with a chakra loop to my finger. On the third try, it sticks.

My bedroom door opens, and Choza walks in.

"Hey." He greets me.

"Hey." I reply

"So, you had your chakra unlocked today?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry I missed it." He sits down on my bed and I adjust my position to a more comfortable one. He brushes a strand of hair out of my face.

"Ebisu says that your chakra is extremely stable for your age."

"Yeah." Probably has to do with my adult brain.

"Can you feel it yet?"

I hold up my hands and cup them, screwing my face in concentration. A small, blue light begins to softly glow in my palms, almost invisible.


	11. Chapter 11: Greenwood, Pennsylvania

**Hi everyone! I hope your not confused, cuz last chapter there was in fact a time skip. I'm not really a Star Wars fan, but my friend showed me an awesome video about Star Wars by a youtube channel called "The Film Theorists" about the new upcoming movie. It blew my mind. Sorry, I just had to tell you cuz it was pretty cool. What do you guys watch on youtube?**

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Thank you TheAtomicRose for favoriting and following "TKS"!  
Thank you Saqqara08 for following/favoriting "TKS"!  
Thank you meow333333 for following/favoriting "TKS"!  
Thank you OddShadow for following/favoriting "TKS"  
Thank you Old Girl Lost for following/favoriting "TKS"!

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

―Dr. Seuss

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 **Hirisoto POV**

When I finally became aware of my surroundings, it felt like I had been suspended in jello for days, maybe months. My ears rung, causing me to wince in pain. What happened? I was doing just fine on my mission. Did I get hurt? I spread out my senses. For some reason, I could only barely touch my chakra senses at all. Or my chakra. I could only barely feel it, swirling around in my chest faintly. Chakra restriction seals, probably. I was caught. Damn. Konoha's advanced knowledge in sealing makes everyone's lives harder. I open my eyes, but instantly regret it. Light crashes into them and burns my irises. After a few moments, I open them again and sit up. There's no point in pretending to be asleep. I looked around. I was on a white bed, under a glass window. A metal door was to my right and to my left there was a bedstand with a clock. The walls were white and futuristic-looking. And attached to my left arm was a few metal prongs and a tube that literally went _inside_ my arm. These... _devices_ connected to an advanced-looking machine with a display monitor that showed some sort of graph on it. What was that thing? Some sort of torture device? I lay back on my pillows, stretching my unused limbs.

I focused my senses to my nose and sniffed. I recoiled in disgust. Bad idea. The room was filled with a pungent smell of rubbing alcohol, and a smell I can't quite describe. I also noticed something else. I wasn't strapped to the bed. Is it possible that someone found me and thought I was a native of the Land of Fire? No way. My Kumogakure headband gives it away. I reach up to my forehead, just in case it's still there. Nope. They replaced my ninja outfit with a white T-shirt and white shorts, with some kind of elastic waistband I'd never seen before. I fiddled with it for a moment, testing it's properties. The loud footsteps of running people echoed in the hall. _Not Shinobi,_ I noted. The lock clicked and the door opened, and three doctors in white smocks ran in. One female, two male. Not armed. No chakra, must be civilians. Which makes sense, because they're loud as fuck. Every movement they make is wasteful. Their breath puffs in and out, loud to well-trained ears. Their hearts were beating on overdrive, according to my ears as well. I could attack, but I must have been knocked out for a really long time. My strong shinobi muscles all but disappeared, and my senses were dull from disuse. Also, if I moved, some trap seal would probably kill me. I stayed put, for now.

"Mr. Cowan! Are you feeling alright?"

 ** _What?_**

Somehow, the female doctor had spoken a different language, one that I've never heard before in all of my studies and travels as a ninja, and I _Understood_ it! I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'm not in Konoha, am I? Or in the Land of Fire at all...

"Where am I?" I ask.

"Don't worry, you're totally safe, I promise. You're going to be safe here. We are going to rehabilitate you. Your recovery is of utmost importance to us." She flashed a cute smile, standing on her tippy-toes. The male doctor to the left had blonde hair, a white coat and a blue tie with stylish glasses on and spiky hair that was covered by some mesh net. In the center was the woman. She was wearing the same uniform, but with a red tie and a red shirt underneath. She had orange hair in a ponytail. The other dude had black straight hair that went down in front of his face and the same uniform again but with a black and white checkered tie. He stood with his hands in his pockets and a clipboard pinned under his arm.

"Who's 'Mr. Cowan'?" _Whoaa._ I spoke, and that language came out. What kind of jutsu is that?

The redhead pulled up a white plastic chair, and the two dudes left the room.

"That's you."

Oh, so wherever I am, in a whole 'nother fucking country, with some weird translation jutsu, I am called 'Mr. Cowan.' It can't be a misinterpretation. My name is Hirisoto Sakalana. The two definitely don't sound alike.

"So, I'll give you a little information. You were in a car crash, and you've been in a coma for a few months. We expected a slow recovery, but you seem to have made more progress in the past ten minutes than many other patients do in half a year."

Okay, sure, that makes sense. So I was attacked by a 'car' or something like that and then passed out for a few months. What the hell? This place gets weirder every minute.

"A car _what?_ Where am I?"

"Greenwood hospital."

"Okay, somethin' more than that. Providence, Land, Daimyo, Village, that sort of thing."

"We are in Pennsylvania, in the United States of America."

"Never heard of it. You're not just fucking with me, are you? What kind of torture method is this, anyway?"

The orange haired woman looked appalled. "T-Torture?" She clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Yeees ma'am, that's what happens to the unlucky shinobi who don't get killed in the field. It comes with the job."

Her eyes were a fraction of an inch wider than before. Someone walked past the door outside my cell.

"I-I don't know what you saw in your dream. But whatever it was, it wasn't real. You need to understand that. You're safe now."

"Shinobi who are trapped are never safe."

She sighed. "You're not trapped. We're here to help you. I'm here to help you." She said, gesticulating towards herself. She sighed, and pulled some kind of book out from a shelf under the bed. It was stuffed with index cards.

"I'm going to ask you some questions. It will help you get your memories back from your life before, okay?"

She held one card up. It had a picture on it.

"What is this picture of?" She asked.

"Ummm... That's a duck. What kind of question was that?"

She held up another one. It had a picture on it as well.

"...Turtle?..." I answered She nodded slightly and picked up another one, setting the used one down in her lap.

"Uhh... That's a picture of someone."

"But who?" She pressed. I shrugged.

"That's a man called Albert Einstein. He was a famous physicist."

"I have no idea what that is, but whatever." I replied. "What does that thing do?" I pointed to the monitor to my left.

"That's a monitor that detects your heart rate, blood pressure, brain activity, and a few other gauges. What's this?"

"That's a multipurpose ninja tool. Good for making traps and cooking and other survival elements, but it can also be used to assasinate someone inconspicuously if you are pretending to be a cook for a target of importance, or defending yourself. The curved back of the blade is specially smoothed so that it is difficult to remove from a body, a definite plus in combat, but it looks like it's weighted poorly. Not the kind of knife I'm used to. Carbon stainless steel, probably."

A look of horror dawned on her face, which turned a pale white.

"I... I think I'm done for today." She got up and raced out the door. Weird. 'Pennsylvania' must not be a ninja village.


	12. Chapter 12: The Academy

**Ayyy I'm back! I legit had to rewrite this chapter twice, which is really frustrating. Hope u enjoy!**

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Thank you Alexandria139 for following/favoriting "TKS"!  
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TheAtomicRose- Thanks for your support! *Blinding smile flash* (A reference from that filler episode about Gai's childhood)

"Peace can not be kept by force; It must be achieved by understanding."

-Albert Einstein

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It's a cold, crisp morning. The sun is still not over the bumpy mountains on the horizon. Torches in sconces are lit everywhere in the clan compound, and most ninja are going through a quick morning routine. Including me. Yes guys, that's right, I woke up at five in the fucking morning this morning. I'm outside, in a little 'garden', doing stretches with Choji. How can he do this every morning?

"You're doing it wrong again." Choji places a hand on my side and pushes it to the right, and then adjusts my arms in the stance. I fail to make a change, too tired to even move.

"Don't worry, you'll get it right eventually." He said, trying to be nice. My eyes drooped blurrily. The hood of my red hoodie slipped over my eyes. I didn't even care. Finally, mom calls us in for breakfast. Pancakes (I taught them how to make those too!) Sausages, Traditional eggs and rice, and a small omelet. Feeling full, Choji and I went to the family room to watch television until we had to leave for the academy.

Yes, you read right, I'm going to the academy today. With only four days until the academy exam, Ebisu felt that I should shadow Choji for a day to get used to being around active-duty shinobi and so the Hokage could see how my personality fit with the other students in order to decide how to put the genin teams together. There wasn't really a protocol for this, because I pretty much am the first ninja to ever be 'homeschooled' rather than going to the academy and still be accepted as a candidate for active duty. It's imperative that the little ninja grow up together and form bonds in the academy for success in the field, but considering that Kakashi refuses to take up his duty as clan head and I'm now the oldest Hatake other than him, that makes me the most likely choice for clan head. So, exceptions are made for me. I wish someone would just explain this stuff to me. I have to make guesses.

The tall, blue-haired man on the screen describes the weather for next month. There are threats of snow, but everyone knows the Weather Sensing Prediction Corps (AKA the weather ninja) are always wrong. Choji reads a book, and makes small talk to keep me awake. He fails. My brother wakes me up just under two hours later, and we don our ninja outfits and head outside. The sun is up by now, attacking everything (especially my eyes) with golden light. There aren't any clouds in the sky. And it's cold, really, really cold. Like, twenty degrees colder that it was last year at this time. Autumn is almost over. I try to to warm up my limbs by spreading my chakra into my arms and legs. I failed, but I keep trying. At least it makes walking more interesting.

"Hey, Choji! Good morning! Can you believe how cold it is outside?" Yells Ino, as we stop to pick her up from her flower shop. She stands on her tippy toes, bubbly and excited. "Hey, Sarah! What are you doing here? Don't you have training with Ebisu-san?"

"Not today Ino, I have to train with you guys today."

"Oh, so you're joining the academy? Great! You'll have to meet all my friends! Come sit with us! Just don't let them know that you hang out with Naruto, okay?"

"I'm okay. I'm gonna sit in the back, so I can, you know, supervise." I replied.

"So you can get away with napping, you mean." Cut in Shikamaru. "You can come sleep with me."

"Sarah! You would never do that, would you? Don't let yourself be corrupted by that lazy bum!" Ino outraged.

"It's already too late." Choji groaned. I hike up my backpack higher on my shoulders.

We arrive at the academy. It's a large, red, two- story building with the words, "Konoha Ninja Academy" painted on the side in black. The roof is green, and the windows in the building are large, probably so that the students can escape in case of attack. A few blocks away, the Hokage Tower stands proudly.

"I'm gonna look at something over there real quick. You guys head on in."

"Alright, see you in class." Ino waves cheerily, and she walks in the glass double-doors. I take a few minutes to walk around the building, noting exits, entrances, and other places of interest. I feel someone looking at me, somewhere, and I turn around. Nobody there. I Spread my senses. Nobody's around except the teachers and the students inside the academy. Interesting. Either it was my imagination, a stalker with fairly good deception skills, or one of the teachers. I spread my senses even farther, and I feel a wisp of something. Of chakra. Not in a chakra circuit. The dispersed extra chakra from a Body Replacement Jutsu or Land Traveling Jutsu? I can't really differentiate. But judging by amount, the person was good at the jutsu, but not that good. Probably one of the teachers, then. I walk inside, and up a staircase, where Choji told me the class was, but I'm instantly lost. This place is crazy.

Someone taps me on the shoulder. I spin around. "Iruka-sensei?"

"I'm just a clone." He explains, "Your class is this way." He gives me a smile. "Were you lost all that time?" He asks.

"Yeah... I guess..." My voice trails off.

"Liii-aar!" He says in a singsong voice. "You scoped out the area before you walked inside. Very good! Ebisu seems to have succeeded again! And in only a few months, too. He's a bit annoying, and he's a pervert, but he's worth his weight in gold. I have high expectations of you, you know. All the jonin are spreading rumors that you're the next big prodigy."

"Great, the teacher has high expectations on day one." I joked He chuckled.

"Well, don't worry about it. So, when you go in there, just introduce yourself."

"Okay. Hey, by the way."

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Thanks for taking care of Naruto."

"Oh yeah, no problem! He talks about you all the time. all the kids though you were his imaginary friend or something."

"That's totally depressing."

We walk through the doorway into class and the clone puffs into smoke. A Shadow Clone. Impressive. Iruka walks over to the doorway to meet me. He shakes my hand, and walks with me over to the center of a small stage with a podium in the center that he lectures from.

"Okay, class!" The classroom quiets down. "This is Sarah Hatake, our new student until the exams. I hope you've all been studying."

Naruto looks at me in surprise, and a grin pops on his face. He nudges Sasuke, who was sitting on his right. "See? See? I was right!" He whispers loudly.

"Shut the fuck up, Naruto." Sasuke asserts. Naruto goes quiet.

Iruka ushers me toward the podium, and I begin to speak. "Hi, I'm Sarah Hatake. I'm twen- I mean, thirteen years old. I like food, like ramen, messing around with chakra, reading, and playing board games. My favorite food is barbeque. I don't like training, or waking up early in the morning. My dreams for the future... well, you don't need to know that. I live in the Akimichi clan compound with my brother, Choji." I finish.

Someone in the crowd points a finger at me. "Hah! So that's why she's so fat! You think you can be a ninja like that?!" The class burst into laughter. I shrug my shoulders. That's not even funny. Hinata slumps down in her seat, embarrassed _for_ me.

"That was extremely rude, Kufiro. Detention, after school tomorrow." says Iruka-sensei. "Sarah. you can sit down now." I didn't sit down.

"I may be chubby, and I may be related to Choji. However, the difference between me and Choji is that he is too nice to hurt you, but I'm not as nice as him. I will not hesitate to kick your asses. All of you."

The class stared at me. Sasuke's eyebrows were raised, and Naruto looked at me with eyes of awe and admiration. Shikamaru was snoring.

The class stared at me for a few minutes that felt like hours. I did my best to look confident.

Mizuki walked around behind me and tapped on my shoulder. "Quite a show, Hatake. Now, could you sit down so I can start my lesson?" I nod quickly and walk up the center aisle. I sit down next to Shikamaru and put my head down on the wooden desk.

Nudge. Nudge nudge. "Sarah, wake up."

"Huh?" I ask lifting my head up off the hard wooden desk.

"We're going outside to do some training."

I pick myself off the desk and follow the class outside.

The class follows Iruka-sensei around to the back of the school to a large training field that had a few pavilions on the side closest to the school and picnic tables. The field was scattered with various targets, walls, a stack of large boulders, training posts, and lots of various, random objects.

Shikamaru and I sit at a table near the back, and the rest of the kids pile onto the two front picnic tables.

"Okay, everyone," Announced Iruka-sensei, "Today, I'm going to test you on weapon throwing accuracy, and then we will practice taijutsu and chakra control. But first, we're going to run two miles. You have eleven minutes. your time starts... Now."

Iruka sensei turns around and speeds away towards a path that went into the woods at nearly lightning speed. The other kids get off the bench and start running to the path. Sasuke, I notice, passes all of the other students, pushing far ahead. I'm not that fast, but I have one advantage- my chakra and my adult mind allow me to chakra boost, like Sasuke is doing. Here's how chakra boosting works:

Your muscles need a few things to work properly, on a very basic level- energy (food), nutrients, blood (oxygen), and chakra. That's why when you use all your chakra, you die. (Your heart is a muscle too.) You can make your muscles work better by focusing your chakra on specific muscles to chakra enhance them. However, if you use this too much, the balance is thrown off and it takes more and more oxygen to work properly. When it gets to a point that your heart can't keep up anymore, this can cause permanent damage or exhaustion. When someone uses the eight inner gates, i'm guessing, that's why using them causes extreme exhaustion afterwards and in the case of the eighth gate, death.

I take off towards the path, chakra enhancing my legs. I soon pass the majority of the class, then the people at the front of the group, then Naruto, then, as I turn around the corner and jump over a fallen log over the path, I catch sight of Sasuke. He distracts me and I almost fall into a pit of mud that I barely manage to dodge. Wooden planks stick out from trees, poking at me on the path, and hurdles to jump over or slide under assault me. There's a tunnel that I guess I'm supposed t crawl through, but instead I blast myself straight through with a burst of chakra and land only a few footsteps behind Emo. The Uchiha turns his head and sees me. His eyes widen in surprise, and he puts on speed and sprints faster. I follow him, catching up quickly and soon we're both running in tandem, side-by-side. Sasuke and I jump over an obvious tripwire trap and splash through a few puddles of water, then onto a balance beam that wound around a few trees. I narrow my eyes and pour more chakra into my thighs to pass Sasuke but he does the same and we can't beat each other. We sprint around a hairpin turn and suddenly the field is in sight. Chakra explodes from my feet and I fly past a surprised Mizuki, who was holding a stopwatch.

"Sasuke Uchiha, six minutes and forty-five point twenty-seven seconds. Sarah Hatake, six minutes and forty-five point twenty-eight and a half seconds."

Damn. I lost.

I flop on the ground next to a large round practice target and sasuke leans over, hands on his knees. We stay like this for a minute, until Sasuke walks over to where I am laying down in the grass and leans against the target, hands in pocket.

"You're better than I expected." He says

"Eh, well, I'm pretty good considering I've only trained for three months."

Sasuke choked. "That's a lie."

"No, it's not."

"Well, you did well to keep up with me, but It will never happen again. I'll see to that."

"Yeah, you think so?" I challenge.

"I know so."

Sasuke begins to walk away towards the pavilions, but I call out to him before he leaves.

"Sasuke?"

"Hmm."

"Do you think Naruto is annoying?"

"Doesn't everyone?"

"Do you have any idea why he is that way?"

"Why should I care?"

"Naruto never had parents. He never had anyone to tell him right from wrong. It's not his fault."

"Oh yeah? Well, cry me a river. My life has been hell. The only reason I am alive is that I live for a single goal. Why should I care?"

"Because he has incredible chakra, and incredible powers beyond ours at the moment. He's very clever, and he never gives up. Don't you think he could be a valuable ally?"

Sasuke turns to face me.

"Oh, is that why you hang around that brat? To use him for his power? Of all the underhanded, low ways to achieve power, using others might just be the worst. Do you think I'm weak? Is that it? You think I need help?" He balls his fists. "What I must do, I must do alone."

And with that, Sasuke briskly walks away towards the pavilions.


	13. Chapter 13: Television?

"The task of a modern educator is not to cut down the jungles, but to irrigate the deserts."

-C. S. Lewis

* * *

The past few days have crawled by like a dead snail with arthritis. I've spent the entire time on the hospital bed, doing absolutely nothing. Not to say that would be a problem, I've meditated before. But unfortunately, it is a problem, apparently. Every time I retreat to the sweet bliss of my mindscape the doctors freak out and I get restrained to the bed with an IV drip stuck in my arm again.I gave up on trying to break the genjustu a while ago. It's completely infallible- way too tough for a chunin to handle. What is the purpose of this? To bore me to death? I'm beginning to think that maybe I'm not in a genjutsu. Everything feels totally real. I feel pain like normal, and There are never any flickers or chakra instabilities. So, I've been spending my time practicing chakra control again. I can just about spread it to my arms and legs, I'm so close. I guess it helps that I have done it before.

Presently, the orange-haired doctor (Who's name is 'Haley' by the way.) (What a ridiculous name!) walks into the room.

"Good afternoon, Sean!"

I mumble something that resembles a 'hello'.

"I got permission to bring you a television! You won't be so bored from now on."

She sets down the towels she had in her arms on a plastic white coffee table by the end of my bed and comes back with a giant black shiny rectangle on a rolling platform.

"What is that?"

"See for yourself!"

She attaches a black wire to the wall and flicks a switch, and suddenly colors dance on the rectangle. It shows an image of a few people, sitting on red armchairs on a stage. Then suddenly, the people on the screen begin to move.

"Woah… How are you doing that?"

"It's really complicated. I'll save the explanation for later."

She hands me another small black box with buttons on it and explains what they do. I mess around with them. a few buttons make the noises louder, and a few other buttons change the scene. Another one turns it off and on. It's pretty cool, actually.

'Haley' leaves the room again and I mess around with the 'channel' buttons. The rest of the day is fairly boring, but I get a clue about the culture of the 'United States'.

* * *

It's two days later, and time for my mental checkup, when some random guy comes in and asks me a buttload of random questions that I refuse to answer. He gets up to leave, but turns around again, realizing he forgot his clipboard and pen. He looks around, but he can't find his pen. That's because I have it.

Using chakra, I balance the pen vertically on the tip of my finger.

"Hey, check it out. I can balance this pen on my finger." I say.

He looks towards me and sees the pen.

"Cool. Can I have that back now? I kinda have to go check on another patient." He says, growing irritated.

I move my finger from pointing straight up to pointing down at the bedsheets, and the pen stays on the finger. A smile grows on my face. The man watches, and then reaches out to grab the pen. He pulls on it, but his hand slips off.

"How the hell…" He mutters in confusion. He grabs at the pen again, but it won't come off my finger. With a flick of my hand, I apply lightning chakra to the front of the pen in a conical shape and throw it at the white cinderblock wall of my cell.

'Smash!'

The pen goes right through and leaves a small, smoking hole in the wall. The man backs away from me, dropping his clipboard in horror.

"Oh my… Oh my God… What are you?" My smile only grows bigger as he runs out the door, slamming it behind him. Suddenly, the door opens and the room is flooded with doctors. One jabs a syringe into my arm and I'm out like a burnt out bulb, the room fading into darkness.

* * *

When I wake up, I'm back to being strapped to the bed. However, this time there are what I can only assume are guards, with Haley standing in-between them with a troubled look on her face. When she sees me open her eyes she smiles, but the sounds of her heartbeat betray her nervousness.

"Hello, Mr. Cowan!" She says brightly. "How does it feel to be awake again?"

"Eh, fine, I guess." My eyes wander over to the hole in the wall. I notice that it has been hastily plastered over while I was asleep.

"I wanted to ask you… How did you do that trick the other day? With the pen?"

"Give me one and I'll show you." I joke. I guess in whatever place I am, people don't have chakra.

"I'm sorry Mr. Cowan, we cannot allow you to have access to sharp objects." Says one of the guards, roughly.

"Can you tell us?" She asks.

"Uhh… Superpowers? I guess? Like that guy I saw on television the other day. What was he called? Oh, right… was it… the red flash? Or something like that? Or maybe I'm just thinking of the Yellow Flash…" I ramble on.

It's true. While I was watching television I saw a scene about a bunch of people who looked like they might have some kind of chakra. There was a scientist who had some kind of transformation seal, like Orochimaru's I guess, and there was this other guy with some kind of lightning jutsu, (Although he didn't use hand seals, which was odd)  
and then there was a dude dressed in a blue, red, and white onesie with some kind of chakra shield or something like that. Maybe other people from the Elemental Nations went through the same thing as me?

The guards raised their eyes.

"You're talking about the 'Avengers', the movie I showed you on Wednesday. That wasn't real."

"What do you mean it's not real? I saw it on the television."

"They're just actors." Haley explains.

Sadness boils in my stomach. Maybe I am alone.

"You're telling us that you have real superpowers?"

"Well, it's not superpowers. It's chakra. That's normal from where I came from, before I ended up in this fucking hospital. But nobody here even has chakra, so you can't do it."

The visitors look at each other in silence.

"No. No. this is ridiculous. I don't get paid enough for me to stand here and listen to some crazy-ass kid talk about magic." One of the guards say, breaking the silence. The other guard grabs Haley by the arm, and they both tug her out of the room. As she's leaving, Haley throws something at me, unnoticed by the guards. It lands in my lap. I look down at it.

It's a pen.

* * *

Ayyy so someone believes his story! What happens next? I have no clue!


	14. Chapter 14: Graduation Test Part 1

If you are a supreme Naruto expert and know about yang and yin chakra you can skip this next paragraph explaining how it works. This is not part of the story, I'm just trying to clear any confusions you may have. Yes, I did a lot of research on this. Yes, I have a life.

 **When your mind is developing it creates excess waste chakra that is more difficult to control. After a long time it dissipates and your mental chakra (Yang chakra) becomes more stable. If you separate mental from physical chakra, the physical chakra can be moved to your hands and used as medical ninjutsu. If you separate and then move the mental chakra to your hands, you can perform a chakra transfusion, which means giving people more chakra temporarily. The ability to use only a single type of chakra (either mental or physical) at once is called Yang (mental) or Yin (physical) release. This is really, really rare. However, I find it weird that Naruto is able to use Six Paths Sage Yin Release During the Madara fight, but he gets a sun tattoo on his palm. Yin represents dark, rather than light. Sasuke receives Six Paths Sage Yang Release gets a moon tattoo on his palm, yet Yang represents light. Yin is associated with darkness. Why did Naruto have Yin Release? Isn't he supposed to represent light and love? Or maybe, Sasuke and Naruto are the 'dots' in the Ying-Yang symbol and that's why the roles are reversed. Other things don't make sense, either. Oh well. It's just a show, right?**

'Beep! Beeep! Beeeeep!'

A kunai flies across the room, impaling the alarm clock and knocking it backwards off the shelf it was sitting on. It stops ringing.

I roll back over and try to fall asleep. I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for Choji poking me.

"Did you sleep well?" He inquires, while poking me in the side.

"Uhhhh..."

"You know what today is, right?"

"Noooo..."

"We're going to have our academy exams today."

"Noooo..."

"Look, I brought you breakfast."

Choji waves a plate of scrambled eggs on rice with yogurt and bananas and grilled fish and miso soup in front of my face. I reach out to grab it, but he deftly pulls it away from me, sets it on my dresser, and walks downstairs.

Damn. Choji really knows how to get me to do what he wants. Eventually, the smell is too good, so I drag myself over to the dresser. He didn't give me any utensils, so I have to walk all the way downstairs to get them. He probably thought I would be awake by the time I walked down and back up. However, I'm lucky today. I grab a fork from the empty plate on my nightstand from when I was eating cake last night and start eating. I get dressed after I'm done, and head downstairs.

"Good morning Sarah! Are you ready to head to the Academy? We let you sleep in late today."

"Thanks, dad." I plop down at my seat at the head of the table, across from dad. "Dad, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?"

"No. Not today." He says, kindly. "I can't miss everything in my kid's lives!" He gave us a warm smile.

"We have fifteen minutes." Says Choji. "Hey, you want some barbecue chips for a test snack today?" He asks, directed at me. He is standing up, with his backpack on the table, stuffing it with snacks. "Math makes me hungry."

"Me too." I agree. "But I already have some salt 'n' vinegar chips packed away in a nice little sealing scroll." I pull it out of my pocket and wave it in the air as proof.

A week ago, I stayed after school with Iruka-sensei, who agreed to teach me how to use sealing scrolls. It took four days to get the hang of it, and I still find using seals difficult. Apparently, four days is amazing for a 'child like me' but my calmer, adult mental chakra makes it easier. That's cool, I can deal with that.

"Cool. I wish Iruka-sensei would teach me that, but he said I would have to get better grades on physical exams first."

"Well, all that won't matter after today, right? We're gonna be ninja!" I shake him by the shoulders vigorously, and he gives me a great big smile.

Why am I happy about becoming a ninja? Is it the need to be part of something bigger than myself? Even if it will be easier to influence the 'plot' of the Narutoverse if I'm a strong shinobi, I am willingly becoming a child soldier and _proud of it._ What is wrong with me?

"Are you two ready to go?" Asks Choza.

"Uh-huh!" voices Choji and we file out the door, grabbing our weapon packs as we go. I tie mine around my waist and sling my backpack over my shoulders, feeling confident.

"Nice day for a test, huh? You guys are gonna do just fine! I'm so excited to see my cute little kids with new headbands. I can't tell you enough how proud of you I am." Says Choza.

"Thanks, dad." Choji and I both say, and we walk to the main roads in a comfortable silence. Choza's ninja outfit, which included a metal chestplate clanked as he walked behind us. Fantastic for stealth missions, I'm sure.

Eventually, we reach the Academy. Just as Choji does every morning, we stopped t pick up Ino at the flower shop, but today Inoichi came too. Once we got to the Academy, we see a semicircle crowd standing around in front of the Academy building, a mixture of proud parents and their children. Shikaku and Shikamaru walk up to greet us, and we join the crowd.

Iruka-sensei stands in the middle of the semicircle, standing on a box and calling out classes. "Class B, Room 295." He calls out. The class of the people he calls walk into the building behind him. To take the test, probably. It's about twenty minutes later until the next class is called. "Class C, Room 123"

Oh God. I'm in Class C.

"Good Luck!" Choza pats me on the head, and I walk with Choji, Ino, and Shikamaru into the Academy. Ino grabs my hand and holds on tight. She must be really nervous.

I hold my brother's hand in my other one and we file up the stairs with the rest of my class towards the test room.

In the test room, the desks are all aligned and faced backwards from the podium. On each desk is a paper, and Mizuki stands behind the podium. We all file in and stand awkwardly by the door.

"Find a desk."

I choose a seat and drop into it. In the corner of the classroom, Naruto and a civilian named Shimuri fight over a seat next to Sakura.

"Silence!" Mizuki shouts. "You may begin the test in three... two... one, start now."

I flip over my paper and look at the questions.

 _List the reigns of the Kage of each of the five main hidden villages in order._

 _How much does a Kirigakure standard kunai weigh?_

 _Divide one-thousand, five hundred, and thirty by twenty-three mentally, without writing anything down except the answer._

 _What color best instills fear?_

 _Which of the following berries are edible?_

 _A) Sembleberries  
B) Adderberries  
C) Shiverberries  
D) Twinberries_

Okay, so, mostly stuff you need to know for practical applications. Okay. I can do this. I fill out the packet, and turn it in. Of course, Sasuke was the first to turn in his paper, but only because Shikamaru fell asleep. (He was second) I was third, and I go back to my seat to put my head down and sleep. Poor Hinata is vibrating out of nervousness, lying on her desk. Naruto wasn't doing so well either. I could tell he is ready to pop. Finally, rest finds me and I'm able to sleep.

Fifteen minutes later, and the loud chattering of the class wakes me up. I follow the class out the door and downstairs, still shaking sleep from my eyes. We work our way to the dojo, where Iruka sensei is waiting for us.

"Alright!" He says. "Sit down on those bleachers over there. For the second test, you will be sparring with one of your classmates in a taijutsu-only match. It matters more if you fight well than if you lose. Mizuki here has made a list of matches and will call out the matches. When you here your name, come forward."

Mizuki steps forward. "Rules are- first person to knock their opponent to the ground for longer than five seconds or push their opponent out of the sparring circle in a taijutsu-only sparring match is the winner. Winning gives you twenty points out of a hundred. The rest of your score is based on how well you fight. The first fighters are..."

He pulls a crinkled sheet of paper out of his pocket. "Ino Yamanaka versus Shimura Hibichi!"

The class is silent as Ino and a black haired, serious-looking girl step up into the circle. They make the seal of confrontation and begin.

Eventually, Ino miraculously wins with a lucky hit. The next match is two civilians who I have never heard of, and they were both awful.

"Next match: Choji Akimichi and Makomo Irimi!"

"Good luck, Choji! Ino and I call out." He turns around and winks at us.

When he gets to the circle, Choji makes the sign of confrontation.

"Begin!"

The other boy circles around him, trying to fake Choji out.

"Sorry about this," Says Choji, "My sister has been teaching me not to be so nice all the time."

"Well, isn't that cocky?" The other kid sneers. Suddenly, my brother gives a yell and charges Makomo, head down, arms outstretched. Makomo dodges to the left and it looks like Choji is going to shoot right out of the circle, but Choji spins around and grabs the kid's arm, using his running momentum to propell the kid backwards, out of the ring. Makomo yelps, and then gets thrown out, flying until he rolls and stops after hitting a wall. The class collectively cringes for his sake. Choji is the winner.

"Nice win, Choji! That was quick!" Screams Ino. I nod my head in agreement.

"Next match: Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha!"

"You go, Sasuke!" Screams Ino and Sakura as one. They then look at each other and frown in anger, balling their fists. The girls scream out his name, and suddenly the crowd is pulsating. Naruto walks up to the circle with his head high. Sasuke does the same.

"Ready to lose, moron?" He taunts.

"Never!" Yells Naruto, and the 'fight' begins.

Mizuki needs Naruto to get a bad grade so his plan can take place.

Naruto brings his fists up to his face, boxer style. Sasuke lowers his fists to his waists.

"Begin!"

Naruto waits for Sasuke to move. Sasuke rushes across the circle and fakes to the left, then punches straight to Naruto's nose. Naruto deflects it and then goes for his own punch with his left. Sasuke does a fancy backflip, then does a cartwheel over Naruto's head (To show off) and half the girls in the audience scream.

"I'm glad you're not like that." Choji whispers to me.

I nod and direct my attention back to the two fighters.

Sasuke lands behind Naruto and gives him a powerful sidekick that sends Naruto flying. He would have gone out of the circle, but Naruto, with some quick thinking, grabs Sasuke's collar and they are both pulled to the ground. They struggle for a second and then Naruto is on top of Sasuke, holding him down. With some fancy reversal move, Sasuke gains control and pins Naruto down. He punches him in the face. Again. Again. Naruto holds his hands up to block the punches. Again. Again. Naruto finally throws him off, Sasuke does a fancy backflip and lands on his feet while Naruto, with a bloody nose, picks himself off the ground. This is actually a really good fight. Naruto runs at Sasuke with an uppercut, which Sasuke redirects with a push of his hand and brings his knee back up into Naruto's chest. He does this twice and then throws him to the ground, and Naruto somehow doesn't land out of the circle with a miraculous handstand-flop thing. Naruto is back up. Sasuke is annoyed.

Sasuke rushes Naruto again, and kicks him in the head before Naruto can respond, Naruto ducks the next kick, and then grabs Sasuke's collar again to throw him out. They are on the edge of the circle. Sasuke gives Naruto a vicious shove but he holds on tight, and they both fall to the ground again. However, this time, Naruto is out of the ring. But so is Sasuke. by one finger. By literally an inch. Sasuke quickly pulls back his finger.

"Winner: Sasuke Uchiha by ring elimination!"

Sasuke flips to his feet and walks away, hands in his pocket. Total domination. But not as bad as it could be. Even so, Naruto never landed a hit. The fangirls scream.

Sasuke was out. That should have been a tie.

"What? That was a tie! Did you see it, Choji?"

He shakes his head.

"What do you mean it was a tie? Sasuke totally won!" Yells Ino, bringing her fist down on my head. I grab her wrist and crush it.

"Find a better taste in men! Jesus!"

"Hmmf!" Says Ino, turning to face away from me.

"There it is again. Jesus. What is that? Why won't you tell me?" Ponders Shikamaru, who is sitting in front of me.

Naruto picks himself up and slouches back to his seat in the corner. He looks disappointed and angry. He must have seen the finger too.

"Sarah Hatake and Sakura Haruno, please come to the circle!"

Aww yeah. Lucky me. This'll be a cake walk.

"Beat her up for me, Sarah!" Ino encourages.

Honestly I must admit, in my mind I imagine Tsunade's student, whose pastimes include abusing Naruto and causing earthquakes. It's a little scary. But in front of me is a tiny little girl.

I walk up to the ring and we make the seal of confrontation.

"Hey! I'm Sarah. I don't think we've met before."

Sakura sniffs in the air, regally. "You need to lose some weight. Sasuke would never date a girl like you."

"Weighing less than eighty pounds won't help you in the ninja world. You won't grow any muscles. How have you been doing on your endurance tests?" I retort.

"Muscles aren't attractive, and neither are you." She spits.

"Ooooh, I'm hurt. I can see we're going to be great friends."

Mizuki snorts in amusement. "Begin!"

Sakura runs at me to punch me in the chest, but I grab her wrist, and then her other wrist. She tries to pull away, and when she can't she tries to kick me. I turn sideways and dodge, and then kick at her left shin. However, it's a trap- she moves to block her shin with her other leg but I sweep her feet while she's standing on one leg. She falls to the ground backwards, uselessly. She gets back up, and then I push her down again with a sidekick and she rolls across the circle. It's like she's a ragdoll. I'm just messing with her.

I let her get up again and this time she punches at me again. I grab her wrist and then pull her towards me into my knee, which hits her directly in the solar plexus, easily accessible by her lack of breasts. I knee her in the chest again, and punch her in the stomach, and she falls down again, gasping.

"One, Two, Three, Four, Five, That's five seconds. Match winner by time limit knockout, Sarah Hatake."

Easy win, aw yeah. The crowd is mostly silent, just polite clapping, and unfortunately, Ino screaming. I return to my seat.

"Be quiet Ino, You're embarrassing me."

"I'm trying to help you!"

"Okay, okay, I surrender!" I say, turning around to face her.

"Nice job in that fight!" Says Choji.

"Thank You!"

Now that my fight is over, it's safe to go to sleep. I put my head on Choji's shoulder and pass out.


	15. Chapter 15: Christmas Silliness

**Skipped ahead in time this chapter cuz... Christmas magic. Will be skipping back next chapter.**

 **Recommended song to listen to while reading! = Once N Royal David's City - Dana Cunningham (Holiday) - Silent Night**

Winter has finally set in. Holly crap. Snow. It snowed two days ago, and it's probably going to snow more the day after tomorrow. It's been a while since the graduation, a couple months, actually, so we've gotten some well-earned time off. Maybe we got extra due to the trauma from the Naruto + Mizuki incident. But the thing is, today is December 24th. Christmas Eve. A date that used to be very important to me. Now, I wasn't very religious in my past life, but Christmas was still a big thing for me. I got together with my remaining family, shared gifts, and ate a family home-cooked dinner. It was always great. Thinking about it is depressing, because it's all gone now. BUt obviously, nobody celebrates Christmas in feudal Japan. Nobody has even heard of Jesus before. So, it's eleven O'clock at night, and here I am, sitting up on my bed, wallowing in my tears in the moonlight, and thinking about everything that I lost in my past life. All of the things I'll never see again, all the people I can't talk to, the things I wanted to do but never will.

Eventually, I decide to do something, anything. People aren't supposed to be sad on Christmas, amirite? Slowly and about as sneakily as I can manage, I creep out of my room and down the stairs, walking down the banister rather than the creaky wooden stairs. I feel Choza's chakra stir. He feels that I'm awake, but he seems to go back to sleep. He probably assumes that I'm up for another midnight snack, which isn't very uncommon in this house. In this family, you bring your 'midnight snack' to bed with you on your nightside table because you _know_ you're gonna get hungry in the middle of the night and ninja are always prepared. Unless you want seconds... but for me, potato chip sealing scroll FTW.

Now that I'm curious, I sneak over to the fridge and open it, holding my arm up to my eyes and squinting as the door light blinds me. The dango is all gone. Dang. Somebody ate all my leftover dango I bought yesterday. Like, seriously, who does that? In this house, everyone's a suspect. Well, at least there's cookies, I take a handful and close the fridge. As I do, the mirror on the kitchen wall catches my eye. I walk over quietly, the cute little panda slippers Naruto bought me as a graduation present muffling the sounds of my footsteps as I walk. I inspect myself in the mirror. The gray long-sleeve T-shirt I'm wearing wraps around me loosely (It's actually my mom's), billowing around me. My silver hair shines in the moonlight of the window, and hangs all over me in a disorganised and messy fashion. I give it a quick hand-comb and give myself another look-over in the mirror. I smile. _On point._

Now, I am concerned with the bigger problem. What should I do for Christmas this year?

As I grew up, and there wasn't any more young kids to do Christmas things for, Christmas really lost it's magic to me. I just can't quite feel as excited about Christmas when I'm not doing it for other people, who can still feel the wonder of Christmas morning. Now, I'm lighting trees and baking cookies and setting out presents and filling stockings for my new family, just as I hoped I would some day in my old world. I walk to the living room and check under the couch. The presents are all still there. I take them out, each wrapped in white paper with snowmen, holly leaves, and Santa Clauses drawn on it, and homemade bows made out of red ribbon. I put them on the hearth and cat-foot over to the door. I open it, and step outside into the frostiness. Wow, I was totally unprepared for the cold. I step back inside, grab a coat, and run back out. I step off the porch into the half-inch deep snow and look up at the moon, and the lights of the city, bright at night. THen, I notice something. It's snowing. Tiny little flakes, I almost missed it. But I didn't. I stick out my tongue and tilt my head back, trying to catch one on my tongue and hoping that nobody was watching me look stupid out the window.

While eating a cookie, I simultaneously detangle a strand of lights that have big, round, manilla bulbs on the ends. Christmas lights aren't a thing here. I drape them over the small bushes that line our front porch, and around a small evergreen tree that is at the end of the line of bushes, at the corner of our house.

Everything looks so perfect. The moon is almost full, so close you can barely tell, and the lights grow bright on the snow of the front lawn. The log-cabiny sides and the shape of the roof of the house makes it look like a giant gingerbread house, with a half-inch of icing on top.

We live up on a small hill, a bit away from the rest of the clan. Everything in the clan compound is lightly forested with no underbrush, and the trees are spaced widely apart. Small conifers and boulders often sit between them. Our house is in the middle of a clearing, which we consider to be our 'yard'. We live towards the back of the clearing, the farthest part away from the rest of the clan. In our clearing there is small boulders, remains of old, stone walls, patches of stone, a few pine trees or conifers, and the occasional Hashirama tree or bush as decoration. It is truly beautiful. There is a gravel road from our house down into the woods and toward the rest of the clan, complete with a classic, old stone wall to border it and a row of apple trees. If you walk straight out our front door and turn right, and walk down the hill a little bit, there is an old, rusty metal plow, half buried in the ground. Apparently, the clearing used to be a farm. I love how the trees move in the wind on some days, and the mountains stand proudly in the moonlight across the valley that Konoha sits in.

 _Is this something I'm willing to fight for?_

So people like me can live in peace?

Yes, I realise is the answer. _I will._

Once I'm done gaping at the real-life postcard, I Turn around to finish lighting the bushes and wrap the lights around the posts that support the portico on top of the porch.

"What are you doing? It's freezing out here!" I hear from behind me. I swing around and instinctively reach for a kunai.

"Oh, hey. Choji. I should've recognized your voice." I put the kunai away.

"That's fine. So, what are you doing? What are lights doing on dad's bushes?"

"I'm putting up lights."

"I know, I got up to get something to eat but the lights caught my eye in the big foyer window. What are they for?"

"Can I trust you, Choji?" I ask, setting down the strand of lights that's in my hands into the snow.

"Always. I'm your big brother, you can always trust me."

"It's from where I'm from. Everyone puts up lights, to make the dark winters less... cold and dark."

"So you're getting memories back?" He asks.

"I only have one or two. Not even real memories. Just facts, like how we... put up lights in the Winter, and... How we have family over to celebrate Winter."

I sit down on the white porch steps, and Choji sits down beside me, with his arm around my shoulders.

"So, you know where you came from?" He asks nervously.

"No. I can't remember my childhood at all." I lie, though I'm thinking about all the things that happened when I was growing up. All the fun things we did, all the tragedies and parties and vacations.

A cold feeling settles in me, and I feel myself begin to cry. Choji hugs me tightly.

"I'm... I'm just afraid that one day you'll remember everything, and then you'll leave us, back to your old life." Whispers Choji. "Please... Don't leave us."

I fight back the tears and stand up, walking a few steps forward, still facing away from the house doing my best to smile. "Don't worry. I have nothing to go back to."

"Huh? But you said..."

"It's not a memory. Just another fact."

"I'm... so sorry." He says. He gets up from the porch and walks around me, and picks up the strand of lights from the snow.

"Huh? What are you doing?" I ask.

"Putting up lights." He says, smiling at me. He winds the bulbs around the last ever green tree and up the column on the far right side of the house in the same spiral pattern as the other five. He finishes, and then turns around to me.

"Well? What next?"

"We're done, except for one last thing."

I walk inside, and Choji follows me in. I never really realised how cold I was outside, and suddenly my teeth are chattering. The pink baggy pants that I wear to bed (They are very comfortable) did me no favors outside in the cold, and my panda slippers were pretty much filled with snow. Choji throws a quilt at me and I wrap it around myself and head towards the fridge.

"What do we do now?"

"Get a plate and a glass." I say.

He grabs the items from the cabinets above the cooktop area and I open the fridge to get a jug of milk and a few cookies. Choji fills the glass while I put four cookies on the plate and cram a few (More than I'd like to admit) in my mouth.

"A snack?" He asks.

"Not for us." I say.

I put the plate and cup on the mantlepiece, above the presents. It's been so many years since I did this, and I know it's silly, but it feels so good to put out cookies on Christmas Eve again. Besides, I am a child again. I reserve the right to act like one.

"Why are you putting them up there? Won't that make it hard to eat?"

"We don't eat them."

"So you just leave the cookies there?"

"Yep."

'Oh...' He mouths, and I step down off the hearth (Because I have to stand on it to reach the mantelpiece, which is surprisingly satisfying).

"And... That's it?" Choji asks.

"Yep! Kind of." I say. I stretch my hands in the air and yawn loudly. "I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, goodnight!" Says Choji, and we walk up the stairs, each sneaking to our respective bedrooms.

* * *

I open my eyes and the light from the window blinds me. I roll over, but as I roll over, I see the calendar.

 _December 25th! It's Christmas morning!_

My heart skips a beat. I leap out of the bed, and begin to run towards the stairs when I see myself in the mirror. Not a thin little ten-year-old girl with brown hair and green eyes, but a short, stocky, silver-haired girl lost in someone else's world, pretending to be a soldier.

I sit down where I am on the hardwood floor, with my head in my hands. Out of the corner of my vision I see something on my bedside table. A folded piece of paper. A Christmas card? I get up and move over to it. On the inside, it reads:

 _Dear Sarah,_

 _Thanks for the candy and the cloth staff wrappings for my staff. I'm not sure why You decided to give us presents, but they were great and your mother loved the necklace. Choji insists on waiting for you to open his. And sorry, by the way, I ate your cookies and milk that you left on the mantle. You shouldn't leave food around the house, because either the mice will get them or I will, and I need to lose some weight!_

 _But thank you. I don't have much time before I have to leave for work but I did see the lights out front and although that is kind of a weird thing to do, it looks great. I think you've caught on to a good idea._

Bye _now,  
-Dad_

I read it again, and I open my door and step into the hallway, feeling better. My foot knocks into something, and I look down at what I kicked. A rectangular box, wrapped in white parchment with a shuriken print design on it. There is a tag on it, and a silver ribbon bow. I look at the tag.

 _To: Sarah_

From: Dad

 _Just like you: Silver, sharp, and they shine bright._

I sit down next to it and tear open the wrapping paper. Inside is a bright, shiny silver kunai set. Beside it is silver earrings with little white gemstones. I guess I have to get my ears pierced.

A great big smile lights up my face and I unbox the kunai and hang them by the loops on nails that stick out of my wall in my bedroom, by the door. There are five of them. They are perfect. Not real kunai, just decorative. Like having fancy china that just sits in that display case in your dining room I guess, or a bookshelf of books you keep just because it looks good.

But that makes them an even better gift.

Best Christmas ever? Maybe. Who knows?

 **Skipped ahead in time this chapter cuz... Christmas magic. Will be skipping back next chapter.**


	16. Chapter 16: Ao

Deep in a forest, Ao runs parallely to a masked shinobi in a dark cloak. They dodge trees, sprinting at blinding speed, throwing kunai between them.

The other ninja suddenly stops and flashes through a few handseals.

"Ninja Art: Camouflage Invisibility!"

The mysterious ninja fades out of Ao's sight. Not for long. Ao raises his hand in front of his face, index and middle fingers upright and other fingers curled downward.

"Byakugan!" He whispers. The world around him fades into better focus. There he is. The missing-nin propels himself off a tree with a chakra blast, with his tanto aimed to slice Ao's neck. Ao pretends not to see him, until the last second.

Ao pulls his own tanto off his back and swipes at the hooded ninja's arm in one, smooth motion. He misses, but the strike knocks the surprised ninja's tanto out of his hand. With his other hand, Ao swiftly grasps the other man's still extended hand and pulls, than sidesteps, so that the other man flies past him. The man hits the ground, and the camouflage jutsu is broken. The other man turns to stone and crumbles to the wet forest floor.

It was an earth clone. How did he not notice that with his byakugan? He probably just needs more practice.

Ao looks around him with the byakugan. There. Behind him, in the branches of a tall pine tree. And definitely not a clone this time. Ao leaps at the man, tanto prepared for a strike, and swings at the shinobi. The shinobi deflects the attack with a kunai, and then swipes at Ao's face. Ao ducks, and swings his tanto towards the man's legs, hoping for a debilitating hit. The other ninja jumps the swing, lands, pivots, and shoots a side kick to Ao's stomach. Ao blocks the kick with his tanto and pushes back to knock him off balance. The shinobi does a backflip and lands on a nearby branch, throwing kunai while in the air. The eyepatch ninja swings his sword at the projectiles, at just the right angles so that they are knocked back at the mysterious ninja. The ninja dodges.

"Earth Style: Stone Shuriken!" The other ninja growls, and rocks from the ground below them begin to levitate, and then shoot up at Ao like rockets. Ao dodges the first few, then fires a jutsu of his own.

"Water Style: Interceptor!" Ao holds his hands out and small blasts of water shoot from his fingers and collide with the flying rocks, some of the smaller ones and pushing the larger ones just enough so that they miss.

Ao does a backflip and lands on the ground, and his opponent does the same. "Water Style: Twisting current!" Ao holds out his hands so that he makes a circle with both of his thumbs and index fingers, and a spinning tornado of water shoots out, getting larger and larger.

"Water Style: Crashing Wave!" The other ninja calls, and a giant wave emerges from behind him, speeding towards Ao and felling trees in it's path. The jutsu collide for a second, But the horizontal water tornado overcomes the wave and blasts the enemy ninja backwards, through a tree, then another tree, then finally, into a rock, ending his journey backwards through the woods. Ao throws his tanto like a javelin to end the fight before the man gets up. The enemy attempts to scramble to his feet, but seems to be concussed. The tanto spears through his chest. He screams and falls down in the rocks, and pulls the tanto out. It clatters down the rocky streambed into a small, clear stream. Red clouds the crystal-clear of the creek for a second, until it washes away. Ao walks up to the man, deactivating his Byakugan. The cloaked man gets up to his hands and knees, eyes screwed with pain. His hood falls back, revealing his face as he looks up to the sky. as his head turns upward, it begins to rain.

Blood trickles out of his mouth and the enemy ninja falls to the ground again, dead in a small pool of red, which emptied into the stream, staining the rocks. Ao breathes out heavily. He just ended someone else's life. Again. He hated doing that. Maybe it was time he started looking for a better job.

"Water Style: Rain Barrier Jutsu." A thin, almost invisible dome of water forms above him. An umbrella, literally made of water. There's something to be said about that. Sometimes, the lamest, most passive jutsu are the most useful. He sits down on a pine tree stump and pulls a scroll from his pocket. Mission complete, the target was terminated. And not just any target. A jonin-level missing-nin. That was way harder than it should have been.

But the hardest part is never the fight. It's what comes after Ao wins.


	17. Chapter 17: The final test

**My favorite quote! VVVV**

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile, because it happened."

-Dr. Seuss

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* * *

The day drags on as slowly as ever, but excitement rings through the air, so electric you can feel it. We slowly file down the hall towards the next testing room, a large gym-dojo thingy with a hardwood floor and training posts set up along one wall. I instantly recognize the room. It's the dojo they use for the Chunin Exam preliminaries. There is a giant, old-fashioned screen above a walkway with two sets of stairs on either side, with a door in the middle. We sit down on benches along the back wall, chattering.

"Class. Hey! Class!" Iruka yells over the chatter, standing about thirty feet away from us, a third of the way across the gym. "Hey!" He punches a thick wooden post. The loud, hollow burst of sound quiets the class, and the tiny splinters of wood shower over us. That's gonna be a mess to get out of my hair...

"Now, we're going to be taking the second test. Weapons." Iruka slips a hand over the top of his right wrist, and it starts glowing. Suddenly, a long metal staff pops into existence with a puff of smoke, landing in his hand. He twists it around, so fast it just looks like a silver circle, and then through his legs and over his head. He finishes the maneuver by planting one end roughly into the hardwood floor.

"On this table, you will find many assorted weapons. Pick one that you are most comfortable with and return to your seat. When you have chosen your weapon, please return to your seat and I will call you up for your test."

"Sensei? Are we allowed to use our fists as a weapon?" Sakura calls out in her highly annoying voice.

"If your fists are made of steel and can block my sword, absolutely."

A few chuckles are heard from the crowd. Sakura turns her head down, embarrassed. Oh, the irony. She'll be known for having fists of steel one day. Not as cool as splitting lightning and copying thousands of jutsu though. Speaking of that red-eyed bastard, where has he been all this time? Fuck him. He never even said hi to me. Although... I've never tried to say hi to him either... But still. We're family now, in the loosest of terms. Honestly, I'm starting to lose respect for him.

I stand up and walk up to the table. Not much is left. I snag the closest sword and turn back to my seat. I feel someone touch my side, just barely, as I walk back to my seat. It's Naruto. He walks away quickly and sits down at his seat, then he gives me a small smile and looks away. I sit down and inspect my left pocket. A note on a small square of paper.

 _I tricked Tamiro into t_ _aking a broken tanto so you could have the nice sword. What a loser! Good luck!_

I look over at Naruto to see his reaction. He is looking pointedly away from me, trying to balance a kunai on his palm. It wobbles and falls on the ground, and he sheepishly bends down to pick it up.

Iruka-sensei starts calling up students, and they are given a few various tasks- cut this target, hit this one, and perform twenty correct katas with your weapon. We do this, and afterwards, he shows us to another table with shuriken, senbon, and kunai. We each take five, and then we line up and throw at targets. After this is done, we follow Iruka-sensei into a hallway. We line up in the hallway, and coincidentally, I'm at the front of the line.

"Come on in, Sarah." Says Iruka says. I follow him through a red curtain and into a small room. Iruka stands in front of me with Mizuki, next to... the Third Hokage. He looks regal and weary, but there is a spark in his eyes that tell me that he is much smarter and stronger than he appears.

He is sitting in a red painted chair in front of me, and Iruka and Mizuki stand next to him.

"So, Sarah Hatake." He addresses me. He adjusts his position, so that his legs are crossed.

"Ahhh, let's see. You were tutored by Ebisu, and you've been living with the Akimichi head family, correct?"

"Yes sir." I shift on my feet nervously.

"Why do you want to become a ninja?"

"Because... The weak can't change the world. Only the strong can determine what is written in the history books."

"Ah. So, you want to change the world? How so?"

"Violence will never end, and hatred can never be defeated. But that won't stop me from trying to make everyone's lives better anyway."

"Well said. We have been watching you closely recently. You seem to be quite a prodigy so far. Your skills and combat instinct is impressive."

"Thank you."

"What type of ninja do you want to be?"

"Ninjutsu specialist, probably." I reply.

"Yes, I think so. Although your chakra control may be better for medical ninjutsu do you have any interest in that area? If you pass the exam, I can have you signed up for the medical corps."

"I'm sure of my decision." I say.

"very well, I will see to it that you have the best available tools to achieve your goals. You are aware of the implications of this career?"

"Yes."

"Is there anything else you would like to discuss with me?"

"Naruto."

The Third Hokage leans forward in his seat and folds his hands in front of his mouth.

"Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Yes."

"I assume you want to know why everyone hates him?"

"I already know."

His eyebrows shoot up on his face.

"That's an S-Class secret, Hokage-sama. If this child knows, she should be imprisoned." Mizuki warns.

"It is not her fault if somebody tells her the truth."

"I have a different question. Why haven't you taken care of him like you promised?"

Conflicting emotions show on his face. Surprise, anger, sadness.

"How do you know what happened that night?"

"What night?" I lie. This is starting to get dangerous. He relaxes a tiny bit.

"I thought that the sudden appearance of a child with 'Amnesia' who just happens to be skilled at ninja arts was sketchy, but this is treachery! She must be a spy-"

Hiruzen holds up his hand to silence Mizuki. "I sense the desire to create peace in her. That is all the convincing I need. She is not a traitor."

"Peace for who? The hidden cloud?"

Hiruzen ignores the outburst. "Please tell me. How do you know these things? Then, I will answer your question." He says kindly.

"Naruto talks about you a lot. He thinks you're the best, and he wants to grow up to be like you. He is lonely, and although I have talked to him on occasions and given him food, I have not been a very good friend to him, I keep my distance from others."

"And why is that?"

"Sometimes..." I sigh. Here we go. "I see things in my dreams, things that I think are the future. They can change though. In the dreams, Choji has no sister. Now he does."

Mizuki snorts.

"What do you see?"

"There are things I can't tell you, because if I do, it will screw up the future and things might not turn out how they are supposed to. I'm not even supposed to be alive. In my dreams, I am the only person I know of who isn't there. My existence is changing the future, and the future might turn out wrong because of me. I can't even kill myself to stop the future from being changed. Who knows how that might affect my brother? He is very kind-spirited."

Silence.

"How do you know this is the future you are seing?"

"The three jutsu in this test are the Illusion Clone, the Body Replacement Justu and the Transformation Justu. Naruto is the only one that fails, because he has too much chakra due to his Senju heritage and a little furry friend. Iruka will be stabbed by a fuma shuriken tonight, and Naruto will be the best Hokage ever."

Silence.

"This is utterly ridiculous!" Mizuki yells.

"I think that maybe you should talk to Inoichi-san." Says Iruka. Hiruzen nods.

"I'm telling you, seeing the future will not aid you. It will only cause suffering. As it is, everything will end with peace and happiness. There are far too many variables in this world, and if we change any, it may end in disaster. It is a risk you should not be willing to take."

Hiruzen leans back in his chair, deep in thought.

"I suppose that she is correct. The ability to see the future isn't impossible. It has happened before. I believe that there is currently a prophet alive named Priestess Shion."

"Does she have a little glass bell thing?" I ask. She's the one from that Naruto movie, right?

"Possibly. I think we have spent too long here today, we will have to continue at a later date. I'm going to get coffee."

Hiruzen stands up slowly and exits the room, and Mizuki follows him.

"So. can you perform the three jutsu for me?" Iruka says while closing the door.

I raise my index and middle fingers to my chest. "Transformation!"

Suddenly, I'm five and a half feet tall, and... a man... I'm not sure how I feel about that. Apparently, I'm just supposed to 'get used to it.'

How the Transformation Jutsu works- Your body is covered in a thin layer of chakra that basically turns you into somebody else outwardly, but that is only to make it easier for the user to coordinate with different body shapes/sizes- It is actually a genjutsu that affects the visual perception of yourself.

Iruka-sensei looks at me and sees an almost exact copy of himself. I let go of the jutsu.

"Excellent! Now, show me the Body Replacement Jutsu."

I hold my hands together, index and middle fingers on both hands pointed upwards and all other fingers curled together. "Replacement Jutsu!"

I feel a pull, and then with a popping noise I switch places with a log across the room. Iruka-sensei nods approvingly.

"And, finally, the Clone Jutsu."

"Um, I can't do the Clone Jutsu. So I have to do a different kind of clone instead."

"I'm sorry, but you are still an academy student. I can't teach you that, and it won't be until a couple of years until you can actually perform an elemental clone."

I cross my index and middle fingers over my index finger on my other hand.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

' _Bomf!-Bomf!... Bomf!Bomf!Bomf!'_

Small puffs of smoke appear around the room, and six me's look around the room in confusion. So does Iruka-sensei.

"Oh god, my hair looks that bad today?" Exclaims one of my clones, who is hurriedly trying to fix her long, shiny white hair in the reflection of another clone. I feel the chakra leave me, but it's not all of it. It's still enough to get me breathing hard, though. Honestly, I'm impressed, given that I've never tried this before.

We/I stand around awkwardly, looking At Iruka-sensei. "Did we pass?" We ask simultaneously, and then look at each other in surprise. I guess, technically, we are all the same person, so we all think the same way.

"Yes, I suppose so, those are solid clones... That's very impressive. Who taught you that?"

"I watched Kakashi do it."

"I... see. Well, according to your scores, you pass! Congratulations. Even though I've only been your teacher for a while, I enjoyed teaching you."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei."

"Just remember your manners around the Hokage."

I bow to him and walk out the door into an auditorium. I was the only person there. I pick a random seat, put my head down on the armrest, and go to sleep.


	18. Chapter 18: Headbands and Fun Things

**Yes, another chapter with Sarah. Yeppp. That's how the cookie crumbles.**

"Life is great until you run out of other people's money."

-My dad

* * *

Today is the day. The big day. The day when stuff happens. After I fell asleep in the auditorium, like, three hours later, someone finally woke me up and informed me that I was supposed to go to the lobby to get my certificate and leave. So, that's nice. I got left behind. Sweet. Thanks, Choji, for not waking me up.

But anyway, I passed. Thank god. But someone didn't pass... Naruto. So, that's why today is the day that stuff happens. Naruto's first big fight. (Awww, how cute! Naruto's first fight!)

I grab my weapons pack and scurry out the door.

"Sarah, where 'ya going?"

Crap, Choza is outside. I turn around and paste a smile on my face.

"Hey, dad."

Choza and Inoichi are sitting outside on rocking chairs, smoking cigars. Choza has the day off today to pick us up from the academy, which he did. Although I'm surprised he didn't just leave after waiting for me for like an hour outside while I slept in the auditorium. What a great guy.

"Where you headed?"

"I'm gonna go talk to one of my friends from the academy and get some food, why?" I lie.

"Nothing. Have fun!"

"Thanks, dad."

Inoichi gives me a funny look, and I cringe involuntarily, but he lets me go. As suspicious of a shinobi as he is, he trusts me enough to let me off the hook even though he knows I'm lying.

My dad is cool with whatever. A lot of times I literally just leave the house and it's not a problem. Choza is really laid back about everything, and mom, well, I never see her anyway.

So. I have a few hours to prepare, I would guess, for the Mizuki V.S. Iruka+Naruto fight. And I don't even know what I'm gonna do. Maybe I could try to make sure Mizuki dies, because he does eventually escape prison and join Orochimaru or something like that. It's funny how Orochimaru is the scapegoat for most of the series. An attack? Oh, Orochimaru's fault. Someone gets hurt? Orochimaru. Village invasion? Orochimaru again. And he's not even that strong compared to Itatchi or Obito or Kakashi (Debatable) but whatever.

What I could do is get my hands on that scroll and see if I can learn anything. That might help. But I don't even know where they fight. I guess I can just follow Naruto.

I run down the street towards Naruto's house. He's not there. The next place to check is probably Ichiraku's. He's not there either. Finally, I run back to the academy and see something that surprises me.

I move to enter the academy when I feel a presence to the left. I look, and see an old oak tree with a wooden rope swing. Naruto is sitting on it, and next to him is Mizuki. Mizuki turns his head towards me but I leap behind one of the columns that support the entrance to the academy. Mizuki stops talking and everything is completely still. All I can hear is my heartbeat. My chest rises and falls quickly, and panic begins to set in. I swallow hard and clear my head. I poke my head out from around the column. Mizuki is crouching next to Naruto, who is crying on the swing. Suddenly, his face lifts up and hope shimmers in his eyes.

"Really?" He exclaims.

"Shhhh!" Mizuki whispers.

"Awesome!" Shouts Naruto, and he gets up, drying his eyes, and runs off towards the Hokage building, which is right next to the academy. He's going to steal the scroll. With a popping noise and a small but noticeable burst of chakra, Mizuki disappears in a swirl of leaves. That makes my job a lot easier. Naruto passes the guards in front of the Hokage building while they move away from him nervously. Making sure he had gone into the building, I walk calmly towards the guards.

"Name and rank, please."

"Sarah Hatake, genin."

"I don't see your headband." Says the other, while the first pulls out a clipboard and flips through the sheets of paper.

"I graduated today."

"Well, congratulations."

The first shinobi seems to find what he's looking for.

"Sarah Hatake, welcome to the Hokage building. You have been given on-request access to Lord Hokage's secretary, but to see him, I'm afraid you'll have to talk to her first, or join the wait list, which I'm sure you'll never make it through." He jokes. I smile.

"Thank you!"

I make my way past the guards and up the stairs. The building is circular, and on the top floor, there is a pathway that circumvents the large, round room in the center, which is the Hokage's office. Strangely, there are no guards. I stop next to a bookshelf and stick my head around the corner to see if the large red doors are open. They are not. I put my ear to the door, but I can hear only muffled voices, but no excited yelling that is a Naruto trademark. The privacy seal is turned off. So I have to listen to find out when Naruto will come out with the scroll.

My plan is that I will confront Naruto in the hallway and tell him I'm coming with him, and to say not to tell anyone that I'm coming too. That way, I don't have to sneak around. Then, I will copy down something useful in my notepad and leave before Mizuki arrives, saying that if Mizuki finds out I was there he might think Naruto cheated by asking friends for help. Perfect. I hope.

The door budges and opens, and I'm thrown back into the bookcase. A tall man with a long black cloak and red hair takes a step out of the room, then turns around, and it seems like he's waiting for someone. Naruto wasn't in there. The realisation hits me like a thunderbolt to the head. He is the fourth Kazekage. I just spied on the Kazekage. Shit. I'm fuckin' dead. If I run, It'll make noise and he'll turn around and see me.

Something falls on me and I can't see anything, my vision obscured by something covering my crouching figure. I sit completely still, my heart pounding. What happened? Was that a jutsu? Am I dead? No, I can still hear.

"Thank you for visiting, Lord Rasa, I have enjoyed this conversation and hope for greater peace between our lands." Hiruzen says slowly.

"Yes, I agree. I hope my son hasn't caused too much trouble in my absence. I must be off."

"Goodbye, Rasa. Oh dear, a fallen tapestry. Coriou will have to clean that up."

"Goodbye."

I hear the door close again, and footsteps echo down the hall. I stir and push whatever fell on my off of me. A fallen red tapestry that hung on the wall above the bookcase. I look up, and there is a senbon in the wall where a nail should have been, at an odd angle. The nail is on the ground next to my foot. I look to where the senbon is pointing and see...

The backside of Kakashi, walking away down the hallway. He turns the corner down to where the stairs are. I spring to my feet and run around the corner. Nobody is there except a small rock with a scarecrow face engraved in it. He disappeared. I pick up the small, gray rock. It's about the size of my palm. I slip it into my pocket.

Kakashi saved me. He threw the senbon and knocked the tapestry down on me so Rasa wouldn't see me accidentally spying on him. He probably just saved my life. Holy shit. The realisation that I could have just died sinks in. My heart is exploding out of my chest. I need to sit down for a moment.

* * *

It's ten or twenty minutes later when the red double-doors burst open with the force of an extremely hyperactive child. "Bye, gramps!"

I slide around the corner just in case Naruto looks my way, but he doesn't, instead heading down the stairs giggling, with a huge grin on his face.

"Man, sure was easy! I'll have that headband in no time!"

I creep behind him, following him down the stairs. He comes to a stop on the last step.

"Huh? Who's there?"

"Only me, Naruto."

"Waagh!" Naruto stumbles and falls down the last step, tumbling onto the ground. The scroll slips out of his hands and rolls across the floor. I walk over to it, and step on it, chakra sticking it to my foot and tossing it up into my hands while Naruto picks himeself off the ground.

"Hey, Sarah!" He yells, pointing a finger at me. "What are _you_ doing here? Hey, give that back! I need that for a mission! I mean, you didn't just hear that! Can you just give it back now?!"

"I'll give it back once you tell me what your doing."

Naruto dusts himself off. "I just need to hand this scroll to Mizuki-sensei, that's all. I'm not allowed to tell anyone, but it'll be our secret!"

"Okay, but don't tell anyone that I helped you, 'cause Mizuki-sensei might think you cheated by asking someone else for help. Promise?"

"Promise!"

"Okay, let's go then!" I say enthusiastically, and Naruto and I leave the building. I follow Naruto down the roads and he chatters the whole way about meaningless things, like what he ate for breakfast (Guess what he ate?) And What he's planning on eating for dinner tonight (Same as breakfast) and how he found a silver yen on the ground and now he's rich and this and that...

Finally we arrive at training ground twelve, an small glade with a creek in the middle. Naruto sits down.

"Here we have wait for Mizuki-sensei!"

I unroll my snack scroll and grab a bag of chips, and I toss another one at his head.

"Thanks!"

"What time is Mizuki coming?"

"Eight O'clock. I think."

I check my watch. "Well, it's five now. Why don't we check out what's inside the scroll?"

"Hey, good idea!" He unrolls the scroll on the moss in between where he and I are sitting and inside are drawings of people moving their chakra and descriptions of jutsu.

"Reanimation technique? What even is that?"

"Hey, this one looks cool. Shadow clones." I encourage.

"Yeah, and since I can't do those Illusion Clones, maybe I can do Shadow clones!" Naruto forms the seal with his fingers and manipulates his chakra as instructed. A puff of chakra smoke appears behind him, but no clone.

"Aww. It didn't work."

"Keep trying! You're not gonna let a dirty old scroll beat you, are you?"

"No way!" He jumps to his feet and grits his teeth.

"Hah!" He makes the sign again and this time a weak-looking clone shows up next to him.

"You're doing it!" I yell over the noise and chakra smoke. He does it again. A fully formed clone. Next time, nine. It's incredible to watch.

I grab the scroll and flip around for a cool jutsu. Reanimation would be good, but that's a dead giveaway that I either stole the scroll or that I'm a student of Orochimaru's.

I already know shadow clones from the anime. But that's only because it only has one seal. The difficulty in that jutsu isn't the handseals or the chakra manipulation or the amount of practice or skill required- it's about the amount of chakra you have to use that makes it hard. Thankfully, I have a lot of that given that in total my mind is now 37, which is older than most ninja ever get. So I have plenty of chakra, plus my Akimichi heritage which increases my supply even more with a stronger-than-average physical chakra. What I want is a fast-to-use offensive and defensive jutsu, like the susanoo or shadow clones.

I read through the scroll. Ah, here's one- no handsigns required. Defensive with object interaction capabilities. I think this is the one. It's called Chakra Duct Jutsu. Basically, an improved version of chakra strings, like you would use on puppets, but it can create a chakra circuit by touching the ends of two Chakra Ducts together, enabling the precise movement of objects from a distance, and the use of seals.

So basically, that means that I can move and control objects from a distance with giant wires made of chakra that come out of my hands. Dang. I can see why this is a forbidden jutsu. Apparently it takes lots of focus and chakra, though.

On the other side of the clearing, Naruto is talking to his clones like new friends, which is actually really sad considering they are him. His clones dissipate into chakra smoke and I walk over to check on him.

"You did it!" I exclaim.

"Yeah! I'll never be lonely again! Did you learn anything cool?"

"Yep, but I haven't tried it yet. It looks hard. I need better focus and more chakra to use it properly, so I have to train some more."

"Good luck!"

"Thanks! So when is sensei going to show up?

"Pretty soon, I think."

"Well, I should probably leave then."

"Ok. Well, see ya!"

"Bye!"

I don't want you to do this alone.

Nobody should have to face death alone.

This is something you must do, or else you won't be you.

An image of a smiling Iruka-sensei floats into my head. They're going to be ok. But maybe I should stick around, just in case they need help. There is an old, abandoned building to one side of the clearing and I hide behind it, taking extra effort to mask my chakra. I wait for about fifteen more minutes while Naruto practices more, and then he sits down on the ground, exhausted. Iruka-sensei jumps through the trees and lands right in front of him.

"It's all over, Naruto."

Naruto rubs the back of his head, nervously.

"I know, right! Now that I learned a jutsu from that scroll you'll let me graduate, right?"

"Huh? You've been practising all this time?" Iruka inquires.

"Yeah! I learned this really awesome jutsu, and Mizuki-sensei told me that if I showed you a jutsu from this scroll, You'll let me graduate! That's how it works, right? Mizuki-sensei told me where to find it and everything!"

"Mizuki... I always suspected him." Muttered Iruka.

From behind him in the woods, a barrage of kunai shot at Iruka. He had no idea. I can't stop them. Fuck. Why do I have to let my friends get hurt?

The kunai land in Iruka's back and he turns around, scanning for Mizuki.

"Mizuki! You can come out now!" He yells.

'Wha- What's goin' on?" Asks Naruto from the ground, confused.

Mizuki jumps into the clearing from the forest."Naruto! Quick, give me the scroll! Iruka wants it for himself!" He calls.

Iruka holds out his hand. "Naruto! Give me the scroll NOW! That's a dangerous scroll full of ninjutsu and village secrets! Mizuki only used you to get it for himself!"

"Iruka is only afraid of the power you would have with that scroll." Naruto gasps. Mizuki chuckles arrogantly. "I'll tell you the truth."

"Never tell him that!" Iruka shouts, pulling a kunai out of his leg along with a spurt of blood that stains his leggings. It's painful to watch.

"There is a secret that everyone knows but you!"

"Except me? What is it?" Naruto asks.

Stop it, Mizuki! Or I'll kill you!" Screams Iruka.

"The secret is... That you are the demon fox spirit that attacked the village twelve years ago!" Naruto's eyes go wide.

"That's why nobody likes you! You nearly destroyed the village! Everyone has been lying to you ever since. Nobody likes you. The nine-tailed fox killed Iruka's parents! That's why he didn't let you pass the exam! He hates you!"

"You're wrong!" Yelled Iruka.

Naruto stares at Iruka, and then back at Mizuki.

"He's just saying that to get the scroll back!"

Naruto gathers chakra at his feet as if to attack Mizuki, but a giant fuma shuriken flies from Mizuki's hands toward Naruto. Naruto turns to dodge, but his foot catches on a piece of grass and he falls on the ground.

"Naruto! Duck!"

In a blur of movement, Iruka is in front of Naruto. The shuriken impales into his back and blood sprays around him. Iruka collapses to his hands and knees.

"Iruka-sensei... Why?"

"Because... I'm like you. Ever since my parents died, I acted up in class to get attention. I can see that you are doing the same as I did." He smiled and a bit of blood leaks out of the corner of his mouth. "I was lonely, so I got attention in any way I could. You were lonely too, right? Naruto?... I'm... Sorry, Naruto. If I had seen it earlier, I could have saved you from your misery." Tears begin to fall from Iruka's black eyes.

"That's not true at all!" Mizuki laughs. "Iruka was hated because he killed his own parents! He just wants that scroll!"

Naruto stands up, and hangs the scroll over his shoulder and, gathering chakra in his feet, sprints away into the trees.

"Naruto!" Iruka calls after him, but he is gone. Where the hell is he going?

Now, I know for a fact that Iruka has a metal staff he could have blocked the shuriken with. Why didn't he? The answer comes to me simply. To save Naruto from loneliness, to show him that he was worth sacrificing for. Incredible move on Iruka's part, or Naruto probably would have ended up like Sasuke.

Iruka stands up and pulls the shuriken out of his back.

"You saw his eyes, didn't you? They were the eyes of a killer."

"Naruto is not a killer."

And with that, Mizuki jumped into the woods, looking for Naruto. For some strange reason, I decided to do the same. I jump out from my spot after Mizuki jumps away and blast myself into the woods. I crouch on a branch silently and watch as Iruka's head snaps to where I was. He inspects the spot, but doesn't see anything. Then, he crumbles into dirt. What? A clone? That means the real Iruka is chasing after Naruto. I'm still under cover. I push off the tree with a giant chakra leap and speed towards Naruto. I see Iruka to my right, also chasing after Naruto, but due to his injuries he's slower than usual. I push ahead and jump in front of Naruto.

"Wait! Naruto! Iruka-sensei's right!"

He doesn't respond, instead he plows right into me and we both fall through the branches and into the smooth moss on the forest floor. I protect my back with chakra and Naruto lands on top of me.

"Uhh!" I gasp, as we both slide to a stop.

Then, Iruka lands next to us.

"I found you. Finally."

In a lightning-fast move, Naruto jumps up and punches Iruka in the face. Oh. Wait. The 'Iruka' is actually Mizuki. I'm stupid. I just made a huge mistake. I was too busy thinking about things to actually _do_ things. I never checked his chakra signature.

"How... How did you know? And what the hell is this kid doing here?"

The henge burst from the force of the punch, revealing Mizuki.

"Because... I'm Iruka!" 'Naruto' reveals, undoing his henge to reveal Iruka-sensei. "Sarah, what are you doing here!? This isn't your fight! Run!"

Iruka slumps down on a tree and sits down, exhausted and injured from Mizuki's surprise attack. Mizuki totally ignores me. I stand up and stand protectively in front of Iruka.

"Why can't you see that he's a monster!" Mizuki yells.

"I see something different in him. Naruto is like me. But more importantly, he is a human, not the fox. He is only the fox's prison. Naruto is my student, not a demon. He is one of my best. He knows the pain that everyone else feels. He isn't the fox- he's my student!"

Mizuki deadpans. "You gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me. And I thought you were smart." He takes the second shuriken and twirls it around on his finger. "Get out of the way, stupid girl, before I kill you and this idiot."

He winds it up and throws at Iruka and I, to cut both of us in half. But before he can release it, I grab two kunai and tie unbreakable shinobi wire between them, and throw them at Mizuki so that the wire is vertical. He releases the shuriken. Things appear to happen in slow motion. Naruto bursts out from the woods directly in front of Mizuki and delivers a killer punch to the face. One of my kunai flies through the center of the shuriken, and the other wraps around the outside. The one that went through the center flies up and wraps around the branch above me, effectively tangling the shuriken. It cuts through the wire, but the wire was enough to push it off course and the shuriken flies off into the distance.

Naruto lowers his face, gritting his teeth. "Don't you dare touch my friends! Or I'll kill you!"

"Try if you can, monster!" He bites back.

"Alright. Shaadow Clooone... JUTSU!"

We are surrounded by Narutos. God help us. There are too many.

The thousands of Narutos give a battle cry and jump at Mizuki. Mizuki fends them off as best as he can, but they overwhelm him. He falls to the ground, brutally beaten to death.

I turn around and give Iruka my hand. "Need some help?"

"Yeah." He smiles.

I pull him to his feet.

"I still don't understand what you're doing here."

"I saw Naruto with the scroll and he said that Mizuki said that he had to learn a jutsu from the scroll, so I helped him learn one. I was going home when I felt Naruto's chakra explode and I came back, and saw him running through the woods. Turns out it was actually you."

"You... You're prediction was right. I was stabbed by the shuriken."

"Yeah... I didn't know all this was going to happen. I just saw you being hit with the shuriken in a dream and wanted to warn you. I also saw Naruto use the Shadow Clone Jutsu. That's how I learned it. Kakashi didn't teach it to me."

"You saw someone do a jutsu in a _dream_ and just... copied it?"

"I... guess?"

"You are getting more like Kakashi. Scarily so. Is he... your dad?"

"NO!"

A few minutes later and Naruto is done with Mizuki. The shadow clones dissipate. "Did I do it, sensei? Sarah! You came back!"

"Yep!" I say cheerily.

"Naruto. Come here. I want to give you something."

Naruto walks over to Iruka-sensei. "Here. Close your eyes." Iruka takes off his headband and puts it on Naruto's forehead. "You can open your eyes now. Technically, you're not allowed to wear this until the ceremony, but... this'll do! Congratulations, Naruto. You graduate. Now lets go get ramen!"

I feel my headband in my side pocket. Still there.

Naruto stares at Iruka for a few seconds, not comprehending. "Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yells, collapsing on Iruka in a giant hug. "Ow! that hurts! I was stabbed by a shuriken, you know." He says, chuckling and rubbing Naruto's hair.

I take the opportunity to slip away into the woods and disappear. It's 9:21. Choza's still not home yet...

Crap.

Choza had the day off today, remember?

 **I really stuck to the plot this time. It won't happen again. I wish I owned Naruto, but unfortunately, I don't or the fillers would be way better. And completely gone.**


	19. Chapter 19: First Impressions

Today I have to go to the graduation ceremony. It's a few days after Christmas, and snow is forecasted for tonight. (Yay!)

But more importantly, Naruto's confrontation with Mizuki went semi-well. The adults basically took care of the aftermath, and Hiruzen had a lot of questions for me. I told him I didn't know Mizuki was tricking Naruto to get the scroll, and things went fairly well. I was actually soooo lucky with the tapestry thing because normally Hiruzen's senses are spread throughout the entire Hokage building to sense who goes in and out, but it's impolite to be using chakra or sensing around other Kage and officials, as it shows distrust. So nobody noticed me except Kakashi. Speaking of him, I'll see him soon at the graduation ceremony when he comes to meet team 7. Hopefully.

I don't really feel the need to tell you about what happened the past few days because all I did was train, and it was boring. Although, I am getting pretty good at using chakra ropes, which I've been practising since the graduation test. I haven't really explained how they work, so I'll explain to you now:

Your chakra goes out of your fingers in a string, attaching to the object of your choosing. It is technically a type of chakra construct, or an object made of chakra. However, it dissipates over time from not being looped in to a chakra circuit. But the chakra ducts are different. They are two ropes of chakra intertwined, and one goes out of you and into the object, while the other comes out of the object and back into you, connecting a chakra circuit so no chakra is lost. The problem is that you need awesome chakra control and potency to do this. The main advantage of this, however, is that you can make the ducts (Let's just call them ropes) invisible with good enough control, because since you're not losing any chakra, you can stretch it as thin as you can.

Typically, chakra dissipates more the farther away from your body it gets. Normal chakra strings need to be really thick or else they will start dissipating three feet in front of you. But the chakra ropes can be as thin as your chakra control allows, and the less concentrated chakra is, the less visible it is.

Anyway. Graduation is in Two hours.

I hold my hand out Magneto style towards a mug on my nightstand. A thin blue chakra string about 3/4 of an inch thick shoots out from my index finger and connects with the handle of the mug. I lift my hand upward. The mug lifts up into the air. _success._ This is gonna look so cool when you can't see it. I screw up my face in concentration and reduce the size of the string. It breaks and the mug falls back onto the nightstand. I sigh and stand up. Better luck next time. Time to change out of my sweatpants and into my fancy sweatpants with a white cloth wrap.

 _Knock Knock Knock._ "You done yet?"

In my hurry to put my pants on I step on the inside of it and stumble. "Give me a minute."

"We have to go, you won't have time to eat."

"I've been eating all day." I reply, quickly wrapping a thin white cloth around my thigh.

"You're gonna skip lunch?"

"No, Choji, I'll just eat something on the way there."

I pull my vest over my shoulders and pull down the zipper. The zipper stops halfway. "Are you kidding me?" I pull the zipper up and back down again. It doesn't fit. Well, it has been like, five months. Is that normal? I'm not sure. Anyway, I still need a new vest. I force the zipper down again and it finally fits, but it's uncomfortably tight. Oh well. I strap my kunai holster on my gauze wrap, then put a quick hair tie in my hair to make a ponytail and run out of my bedroom. Downstairs, Choza and Choji are waiting by the door. I grab two grilled cheese sandwiches (With onions, peppers, sausage, and eggs) and shove a half sandwich in my mouth. My family doesn't question it. They're used to this kind of stuff. I nod at me and we head outside. After I finish the sandwiches, I reach into my pocket. My headband. I strap it on my head and look over to see Choji's.

 _Oh no._ _He's wearing that stupid hat thing that looks like an upside-down pair of my underwear on his head._

 _"_ Choji?"

"Yes?"

 _"What are you wearing?"_ I point to his headband.

"Oh, I found that yesterday while we were shopping for the new clothes you made me buy. It's pretty cool, isn't it?"

"No, it is _not_ cool! It looks like a pair of underwear."

Choza barely holds in his laugh.

"That was mean."

"I'm only saying it 'cause I love you. As a sister."

His cheeks heat up.

Yes, I made him change his clothes. Gone is the swirls on his cheeks and that stupid scarf he wears _even in the summer,_ even though he isn't a hipster. He now wears a maroon coat with a white T-shirt that has the Akimichi symbol in green on it and navy blue shinobi pants. Thank God. But now, he's wearing that... underwear hat. Choji is really nice, but sometimes he infuriates me.

Oh, and I made Naruto change his outfit too. We settled for an orange and black suit similar to the Shippuden one, but less idiot looking and more awesome looking.

So, the reason why he wears orange is really sad. He only has enough money to go to one ninja store, but the shopkeeper there hates him. And what's the worst color you could ever wear on a stealth mission? Traffic-cone orange. or maybe neon pink. It's a toss-up, but that's not the point. The shops would purposely only sell him orange clothes in hopes that he would be spotted and killed on a mission, which is horrific. When I'm there buying with him, I can just tell them that I'm a Hatake or threaten them with Choza's wrath. But now he likes the color orange, because he thinks that if he wears orange and doesn't die he can prove them all wrong. So, the selection we have of traffic-cone orange clothes to pick from isn't very big. So yes, he still looks kinda silly. But at least now he doesn't look like a moron. I mean, Obito wears purple and a bright orange mask. Everyone thinks he's cool. So I guess it's not that bad.

A few minutes later we arrive at a crowd around the front of the academy.

"Hey Naruto!"

"Hey, Sarah! Iruka-sensei's about to announce the teams! I hope I get on your team."

"What about Sakura?"

"I'd like that, too... what if we all got on the same team!"

"With Sakura? No way."

'What do _you_ have against _her_?!"

"Where's Shikamaru?"

"He's probably- HEY! You just did the subject-change thing again!" I shrug in response.

"Oh, look- Iruka-sensei is up on the floor."

Iruka steps up onto a small stage. "Can I have your attention everyone? Attention, please. I'm going to announce the unofficial teams now. After the jonin tests, the teams will become official and will be given a number."

The crowd hushes and everyone looks toward Iruka-sensei.

"Can all the genin candidates please step forward and form a semi-circle around me!"

Murmuring went through the crowd as we wormed our way through towards the front. We gather around Iruka-sensei, and the three other remaining academy teachers gather to either side of the platform. (Mizuki 'retired' for personal reasons.) The academy graduates form a half-circle around Iruka. Behind Iruka, on the stage, a group of ninja stand in a line behind him.

"Alright! The first open spot for a team, Team Seven, lead by Jonin Sensei Kakashi Hatake! The students are Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno-"

"YEEESS!" Naruto Cheers. "NOOO! WHY ME?" Sakura wails. Iruka gives the two a dirty look.

"And the third member of the team, Sasuke Uchiha!"

"HELL YEAH!" It was Sakura's turn to cheer at the top of her lungs, doing a victory dance, while Sasuke and Naruto both look each other in the eyes. "Awww, fuck." They both say in unison. I laugh at their interaction. The crowd, shocked into silence, stares at the three, who were trying to put as much space between them as possible.

"Well, that's certainly going to be a productive team." Someone in the crowd murmurs. Some people laugh nervously.

"The next team, Team 8, lead by Kurenai Yuhi," Iruka announces, "Will consist of Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame!" The crowd waits expectantly for screaming and cheering, but nothing happens.

"Oh, sweet. Have either of you ever met our new sensei before?" Kiba inquires, more just to say something than as an actual question.

Shino shakes his head. Hinata tries to hide her face out of white-hot embarrassment from hearing her name said in front of a crowd. Kiba consoles her.

"Next, Team Ten! Lead by Jonin Sensei Asuma Sarutobi will be Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, and Shikamaru Nara!"

"That wasn't much of a surprise. I'm not even sure why I showed up for this." Shikamaru yawns into his cupped hand.

"To meet our sensei, dummy!" Ino strikes him on the head. "Don't be such a downer!"

"Well, I would have just showed up to meet our sensei after the 'ceremony'." Shikamaru mutters under his breath.

"And for Team Twelve, we have Kori Yano, Rema Sanara, and Zuri Inuzuka under jonin sensei Akiri Railou!" Iruka announces. "This year, an unusual amount of students passed. After forming the normal four teams, we had two extra graduating students. Usually, this would be solved with additional testing, but thanks to a last-minute addition to Class B, I had the honor of creating an entirely new genin team. The students are Kaito Sarutobi, Sarah Hatake, and Rei Hironori, lead by the freshly-retired ANBU Squad Leader Yuri Hyuga. I congratulate the new genin of Konohagakure. Now, our Lord Hokage would like to give a quick speech."

The 'quick speech' was a long speech. After the long and boring speech, we followed Iruka inside the academy building, and the crowd of applauding parents and teachers congratulated us. Iruka led us to an empty classroom. We took random seats. I chose the one in the far left corner. Isn't this the scene when Naruto and Sasuke kiss? I could feel the hatred in the air, and I knew for sure the First Kiss would occur in only a few minutes.

"Congratulations on passing the exam and joining teams! I know some of you may have not been my students, but most of you were, and I just wanted to tell you all that this has been a very special year, I have had a great time teaching you, and I will never forget you all. Thank you."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei!" We chorused.

"Thank you! I have to go now, so, I guess I'll... See you around."

"Bye!

"Bye."

Iruka-sensei left the room, leaving us to stare blankly at each other. A tan boy and a pale, black haired boy were introducing themselves to each other a few seats in front of me.

"STOP GLARING AT ME!" An outburst suddenly came from the front row. Everyone turned to look as Naruto stormed up the aisle towards Sasuke.

"Hn." He responds. Naruto leans on the front of Sasuke's death, their faces only a few inches apart. They give their best death glares to each other.

"Whoops! Sorry!" A kid with brown hair gets up and trips, falling down the aisle... straight into Naruto's back. Naruto falls forward, and his lips land directly onto Sasuke's. Their eyes widen in surprise. They share a passionate moment of hatred and murderous urges are in the air. Ahhh, love... I mean, hate...

"Begh! Achg! Augh!" Naruto and Sasuke bend over at the waist, sputtering and coughing incoherently. Sakura stalks up the aisle and stands behind Naruto with her fist cocked back, like a murderous wraith.

"NARUTOOOOO... SASUKE WAS MEANT TO BE MY FIRST KISS!" Sakura swings her fist at Naruto's head.

"No! Wait! Sakura! We can talk about this! It wasn't my fault!" Naruto raises his arms up to his head defensively, but the hit never lands.

"Huh? Sakura? Why don't I feel any pain yet?"

I'm sitting on my desk cooly, with my index finger pointed at Sakura. A blue thread of light connects my finger to her wrist.

"Nnng... What the Hell? What the hell are you doing to me? How are you doing that?" She struggles, but I hold her wrist back.

"Why would I bother telling you? You wouldn't have enough chakra to do it anyway." I try on my best Sasuke impression.

"Why you... My academy scores were better than yours! Don't think you're better than me!" She pulls hard and I feel the strain, but I hold her back. I don't show the exertion and instead keep a cool, calm face.

"Well, I simply am better than you. We're not in the academy anymore. Being able to memorize things isn't going to save you. How many real, non-academy jutsu do you know again? I know two. Sasuke knows two. Even Naruto knows one. And you still can't do anything. How pathetic."

"You- You bitch!" She screeches, and she brings down her other fist on the stunned Naruto. I raise my middle finger next to my other one and catch her other fist with a blue band of chakra. I can really feel the strain now. The exertion pulls on me, but I play cool.

"You don't have the right to hurt him! His life is bad enough!" I rant. "He has no parents, he's deathly poor, he lives in a dump, and people try to kill him every day!" I shout. "He pretends to be an idiot to hide his depression, and he's too kind to stand up for himself! Don't you see? I have lost my whole family, I have lost everything! Sasuke knows what it feels like to lose everything! But Sasuke and I know what it feels like to be loved. Naruto will never, ever know what the love of a parent feels like! He has it even worse! Yet you abuse him? You have no right to hurt him! He carries a burden for the safety of the village that you don't even know about! You have no right to hurt him!"

I feel tears streaming down my face, wet and hot. I twist my wrist and Sakura's wrists snap back.

' _Snap! Pop!'_ "Auuhh!" Sakura whimpers in pain and falls on the ground, scooting away from Naruto, terrified, and holding her dislocated wrists. She pushes on them and they pop back into place, giving another moan of pain.

I release her and lean against the desk in a cold sweat from the amount of exertion. I swallow hard. I just went from lifting mugs, rocks and household objects to restraining a person against their will. That is a huge difference. Choji sits next to me to comfort me.

The class stares at me wide-eyed, especially Naruto and Sasuke, who stare at me with what I hope is a newfound appreciation. The class goes silent. My mouth is dry. I need some water. They stare at me.

Someone enters the room. A tall man with fairly short black hair that looks kinda like Kiba's (Not to be confused with the furry black fringe on Kiba's hoodie) and byakugan in his eyes. He's wearing a white shirt under a green jonin vest, and tan shinobi pants. He is a very beautiful man. His headband is over his forehead, but one side is tilted slightly upwards, showing that he's missing something. The caged bird seal that Neji has isn't there. Cool. His hair surges up and over his forehead protector, spiked up at the front because of it.

"She isn't one of my students, is she?" He asks.

"Depends on what your name is." Shikamaru says, his head still down on the desk.

"Yuri Hyuga." He announces.

"Yep, I'm yours." I say.

"Aww, shit," He sighs. "I was hoping for students without extreme emotional baggage. Oh well, what can ya' do. Come on, guys. I'm looking for Kaito Sarutobi and Rei Hironori." He motions for us to follow him and then heads toward the door. "Whoa!" He yelps, and he slips on a textbook that had fallen off a shelf and falls to the ground. Then he just... Disappears.

"Well... great. Our sensei is a complete idiot." A black haired boy sighs as he gets up and walks out the door.

"Yep. Faaan-tastic." The other boy says sarcastically, and they walk out the door. Or, at least, one does. The other, a tan boy with brown hair doesn't quite make it, because he slips and falls on the textbook.

Fuck.


	20. Chapter 20: The Mysteries

"Come on, let's go to Ichiraku Ramen."

"WHAT?! No way! Our senseis told us not to eat breakfast, remember!?"

"Yeah, but I'm starving."

"We can't disobey the rules! Besides, don't you always bring cookies with you everywhere you go?"

"Look, Naruto. Sasuke and Sakura aren't going to eat breakfast, meaning they'll be weaker than normal. If you eat breakfast, then you'll be way stronger than them and your new sensei will be really impressed. They'll never know!"

"Heeyy... That actually is a good idea!" He bounces up and down enthusiastically. "Let's go!"

We walk up to the ramen shop and duck under the banners that are hanging down. We're the only customers. Makes sense, since it's like, Eight A.M.. Who eats ramen for breakfast?

"Good morning, Teuchi-san!" We both chorus.

"Ahh, Naruto, welcome back. You know Sarah?"

"Yup! We went to the academy together!"

"Sarah here is one of my best customers. Will it be the usual?"

"Yes, please!" We both say.

"One pork ramen and one pork ramen no egg no seaweed in just a minute!" Teuchi disappears into the back of his shop. Naruto and I sit in awkward silence.

"Sooooo... What's your team like?" He finally asks.

"Well, my sensei is acts like a total idiot, one of my teammates is really serious, and the other one is stupid and afraid of everything."

"Wow, that sucks. At least I have Sakura-chan on my team."

"Yeah. Well, I guess I'm not really being fair because they all seem like pretty nice guys. But, like, my sensei is really clumsy. I have no idea how he got to be an ANBU captain."

"Yeah. Oh, here comes our food!" Naruto squirms in delight.

"There you are! Enjoy!" Teuchi says with a smile, and he returns to the back room. The heavenly smells float up and into my nose. Food. Food. Food. I love food.

"Oh. Need some chopsticks?" Naruto asks, and he grabs the tin of chopsticks to pass my may.

"Nope!" I point a finger at the chopstick tin and a blue string of chakra connects with a pair of chopsticks, I fling it into the air and release it, and it lands in my hand.

"Wow, that's so cool!"

"Thanks!" I slurp a big mouthful of noodles. Delicious. Naruto isn't eating.

"You 'kay, Naruto?"

"I was thinking. About what you did yesterday."

"I pause in surprise, mid-slurp. A noodle hangs out of my mouth, lamely. "Huh?"

"Yesterday, when you protected me from the girl I like. Does that even make sense?"

"I think so." I respond.

"Well, until then, I didn't know that you understood how I feel. I didn't know I meant so much to you..." A tear lands on his cheek. "You stood up for me, and did what I've always wished I could do... and now... just tell me, why did you do that? Do you feel bad for me?"

"No. It's because in some ways, like Iruka-sensei, I'm like you. I'll tell you the truth, okay? So, don't tell this to anyone."

"I would never."

"Well, I have memories of my past life."

"You do?"

"Well, you could call it that." I lie. "I'm from another world."

"Aaah! So you're an ALIEN? My only friend is an ALIEN!? Aww, Sarah-chan, please don't eat me!"

"A sweat-drop begins to form on my head. No, I'm not an alien. The world I'm from is like this one, but no jutsu, and no ninjas, and we have far more advanced technology, no offense. But one day, somebody killed me. And when I woke up, I was here."

"Really?"

"Yep. I had a family, some friends, and, well, I didn't have much, but I lost my entire world. I'll never see my favorite places again, or listen to my favorite songs or television channels, or go skiing or to the skateboard park, or read my favorite book, or eat the food from where I'm from, or talk in my language, or use the internet, or anything. I lost not only my family, but my hobbies and my culture. I even lost myself."

"I just... I don't know what to say." He finally speaks. "But having you as a friend, my first and only friend, makes me feel like... Things are going to be okay, ya'know? You and Iruka-sensei were the first people to ever recognize me."

"You should start eating now, probably. We're going to be too late."

"OH! Right! The ramen!" Naruto noisily slurps down a few noodles. "So... what do people look look like in your world?" He asks, imagining gooey green monsters and giant bugs.

"We look like people look here."

"Oh. What do you eat?"

"Come to my house one day and I'll show you. Some day, when I'm strong enough to create genjutsus, I'll make one to show you what it's like."

"Did... did you just invite me to your house?"

"Yep!"

"Thank You Sarah-chan!" Naruto leaps onto me in a flying hug. I pretend he isn't there and drink the rest of the broth and set my bowl down. Naruto backs off. I check my watch. Unfortunately, there isn't enough time to order another bowl. Well, I did have an Extra-large, so with my snacks I'll probably be fine until lunch.

"Come on, let's go. We were supposed to be at our practices forty-five minutes ago."

Naruto hurriedly slurps the rest of his broth. "WhAAT? Are you kidding me? I can't be late for my first training, ya'know!"

* * *

Somewhere, in the Hokage Tower, Hiruzen smiles as he gazes into his crystal ball at the excitable blonde jinchurriki. But also the girl... If only he could hear what she was saying, her mystery would be revealed.

* * *

"NARUTO! YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura screams when Naruto shows up at training Area 10.

"Ehh, Sorry," He says, rubbing the back of his head, "I was hanging out with my new friend."

"NEW FRIEND? LIAR!" Sakura accuses. I sneak up behind her.

"No. it's the truth." I whisper in her ear.

"Aaaagh!" Came her shrill scream. "Where did you come from?"

"Ah, you know, The United States of America."

"What the hell is that?" She screams. "You're weirder than Ino!"

"Bye now!" I wave cheerily, eye-smiling and with a bland smile on my face. I turn around and take off, toward Training Grounds 21.

* * *

"Sarah, You're an hour late."

I shrug. "Oops."

"Well, anyway, come on over, you two." He holds up two bells. "Today, you're going to take the bell test."


	21. Chapter 21: Three Bells and One String

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* * *

"I like nonsense; it wakes up the brain cells."

-Dr. Seuss

* * *

"The bell test?" Kaito asks.

"Uh-huh! All you have to do is take these bells from me. But you have to attack me with the intent to kill, or you'll never take them from me!" He sneers. "Whoever gets a bell passes. If you don't get a bell... You have to go back to the academy."

"Whaaat!" Kaito outrages. "I'm not going back there!"

"Well, you have to get a bell then! You have until this alarm clock goes off."

"Wait a minute. There's only two bells. One of us will have to go back to the academy?"

"If you don't get a bell, you go back to the academy." Our sensei confirms. "Good luck!" He does a massive, flying backflip and lands in the middle of the training field, in a wide-open clearing. We stand there.

"Go!" He shoos us away. I get out of there with a replacement and crouch on a log silently. I need a moment to think.

so, he said that we had to take the bells from him to pass, he didn't specifically say that we each must have a bell to pass. So, we only have to take the bells. Also, he said that our time is up when the clock goes off. Shifting my weight, I peer out through the leaves toward Yuri. Behind him, on a post, is a round, old-fashinoned clock. If I destroy the clock it won't be able to ring, meaning that we would have unlimited time. I can barely make out on the clock dial that the clock rings at 2:00. It's 8:00 now. If I throw a shuriken at the clock now, he can just catch it, so I need another way to destroy it. Yuri stands protectively in front of the clock, nonchalantly reading a brown magazine. He's holding his book up to his eyes so we can't see, but I bet his byakugan are activated. He knows where we are, and he knows that I'm going to destroy the clock. But should I try to do it anyway, to allow someone else to get an opening? Or maybe, that isn't important. He doesn't know about my chakra string jutsu. But since he's using the byakugan, he'll see my chakra strings clear as day. I might as well advertise my abilities on that magazine he's reading. What if, instead of using the chakra string jutsu to make the flight path of my kunai towards the clock unpredictable, I could literally just smash the clock into the ground.

I have an idea.

I decide it's worth giving up my position. I throw a kunai with a sealing tag towards the clock but purposely miss, and it hits the ground next to the post. Now I just need to use my chakra strings to knock the clock over onto the tag.

Unfortunately, Yuri has other plans. The Yuri that was holding the magazine burst into smoke, and suddenly he is standing on the branch beside me.

"Was that supposed to be an explosive tag? Rookie mistake. Don't mix up your tags. Try storing them in separate pouches."

' _Bam!'_

A devastating sidekick launches me through the air, and I fly towards a stream. I hold my index finger above my head and shoot a chakra string at a tree branch, which catches me before I fall in. I swing up and around the branch, landing on top. _Nice save. That was lucky._ I don't even hide my chakra, because against a jonin it's kinda pointless. Instead I spread my senses, searching for my other two teammates. Both are attempting to hide their chakra. One is doing a fairly good job, the other's attempt is laughable. I think I know which one is which. I close my eyes to get better control of my senses, and I feel their chakras moving closer together. The neatly-hidden chakra (Rei's) Suddenly flares. Was that a jutsu? He's nowhere near sensei. Or is sensei pretending to be Akio? Or maybe pretending to be Rei? Damn it! If I was paying attention to their chakras earlier, I would know. I return to the clearing and see sensei standing next to the clock. The edge of the clearing is far away from the clock on all sides, and there's no way I could knock over the clock without him noticing. I sense his chakra. It's the real him. But the one pretending to be Akio or Rei could just be a clone... _Now I'm getting paranoid._ If I try to knock over the clock with a chakra string, I would have surprise, given that he isn't focusing on me (He now has his byakugan off) and if Akio and Rei are actually fighting, he would be sensing their movements, not mine, right? To see if they were gonna make up and do some teamwork. I'm gonna take the chance that those are the real Akio and Rei, and if they aren't I can just try something else.

The hard part with chakra strings isn't weight or manipulation, it's distance, because of chakra dissipation. I hold out my hand towards the clock and close my eyes, trying to make a connection. The chakra snakes out of my palm, so thin it's almost invisible, just a slight shimmer in the air, and Yuri doesn't appear to notice. I can feel the cold, round side of the clock in my hand. _Connection! Success!_ I twitch my hands, and the clock starts to vibrate. Harder, I try again. The clock begins to tip over, and Captain Yuri notices. He looks at it in surprise, but it's too late for him. It falls onto the tag. My eyes snap open and I bring my palms together, my index and middle fingers vertical on both of my hands and my others interlaced. "Fuin!"

That was a special one-way sealing tag to another dimension, created specially (and expensively) by the Akimichi Shinobi Market store. That thing isn't coming back. If he does manage to bring it back, it'll be a smoking pile of twisted metal.

"Oh, I see." He announces, connecting the dots. "Well, it appears we have a smart-ass in our midst. I did technically say that your time was up when the clock _rings,_ not when the clock reaches the allotted time limit. Very clever." He gives a knowing smile towards the bushes I'm hiding in. He flips the page of his magazine. Over on the other side of the clearing, one chakra is unmasked. Either he's too tired to cloak it, or... He passed out or went to sleep. I rush around the arena from tree branch to tree branch, and I approach the chakra. i make sure it's Kaito. It's him, as far as I can tell.

"Kaito!" I hiss. "Kaito!" I shake his shoulders, and he rolls over.

"Sarah! You saved me!"

"Yep. What happened?"

"Rei put me in a genjutsu so he could get the bells for himself and then ran off towards the clearing. He's probably there by now! We have to stop him! I'm gonna make sure he goes back to the academy. A guy like that doesn't deserve to be on our team."

He bounces off the ground into a standing position and starts to run off towards the clearing.

"Wait!" I call after him. He stops and turns around. "What if that was just a transformed clone of our sensei, trying to provoke you?"

"I didn't think about that. But then where's the real Rei?"

"Right here. Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu." Came a low voice from behind us. The ground opens up below us, and I fall down into a hole. The dirt quickly encases me so that only my head is above the ground. I look over at Kaito. He's in the same position.

"Sorry, guys. I need to get one of those bells. I can't go back to the academy." And with that, Rei walks between us and jumps off toward the clearing.

"Rei! Get back here! I'm not done with you!" Kaito screams.

"Hey! Wait minute! Listen to me!" I shout, but it's futile.

Without even turning around, he walks between us, then jumps away toward the clearing.

"Hey, Kaito. He's going to fail, don't worry. This test is about teamwork. Remember his word choice when he said that 'we each had to take a bell' from him. All we have to do is hold the bell."

"That's stupid! There's no way that's right."

"Think about it. Have you ever seen a two person team?"

"Huh." He says, seeming to drift into thought. "So we need to go convince Rei and all attack Sensei together before the time limit is up. But first we need to get out of here!"

"I know how." There's a branch above me. I unseal a rope from my breast pocket, which I can barely reach, and worn my hand through the dirt to the surface. It's difficult, because the dirt moves when you do to hold you down. I can't just jump out.

I throw one end of the rope over the branch and keep hold of the other. One end is wrapped around the branch. With some effort, I pull myself up and out of the hole. Kaito seems to be impressed. Next, I pull him out. We run over to the clearing and wait in the bushes. Kaito stands away from Yuri-sensei, and he throws a hail of shuriken at Sensei.

Sensei pulls out a tanto and deflects them at perfect angles, so that they shoot back at him. He dodges them and runs toward Yuri. Yuri pulls out his newspaper and starts reading. Rei jumps on him, and Yuri simply sticks out his foot, which lands in the middle of Rei's stomach. The breath visibly leaves his body and he lands on the ground.

"Ooohhh. That must've sucked." Kaito comments.

Rei bounces back up and wipes his mouth, ready for another round.

"Rei! Get back here!"

"Rei! Get over here! Quit being an idiot!"

"Since when are you smarter than me? Need I remind you of your scores?" Rei yells back, forgetting about the fight for a moment.

'(Crack!)' A punch to the side of the head launches Rei through the air. He flips over in the air and lands on his feet, skidding across the ground from his momentum. He looks between Sensei, then us, then back to Sensei.

"I'll be back to finish this fight." Rei calls to Yuri-Sensei.

"Oooh, a coupon!" Sensei rips a page out of the magazine and slips it in his pocket.

* * *

We sit down on a patch of water by the river. "Are you guys hungry?" They nod.

"Here. Snacks." I toss them each a bag of chips.

"I guess having a fatass teammate isn't so bad."

I flip Rei off and the three of us sit down on a patch of moss.

"Okay, well if Rei's fight was any demonstration, we can't beat him if we fight him all together, no matter what we do."

Rei rolls his eyes. "What should we do instead, trap him?"

"We don't have the experience to actually trap him." I say.

"You guys are thinking about this wrong. We don't need to trap him, just the bells."

"That's true. Did anyone notice that the clock is gone?"

"What happened to it?" Asks Rei.

"What clock?" Kaito asks cluelessly. We give him exasperated looks.

" I destroyed the clock, so the alarm will never go off. We have all day, or until he fails us."

"Well? Let's get 'em then! If we show teamwork, he might even pass us even if we don't get the bells." Kaito says, knocking his fists together in excitement.

"What Jutsu do you guys know? I know Chakra String and Shadow Clone."

"Whoa, you can do Shadow Clones?"

"Mmhm."

"I know Headhunter. That's it."

"You, Kaito?"

"I know Water Bullet."

Rei scoffs. "No you don't."

"Well, I can almost do it." Kaito blushes, embarrassed.

I stand up and they follow me. We head towards the clearing.

"Hmm? What's this?" Yuri taunts.

"Those bells are as good as ours!"

"We'll see, won't we, Kaito?"

Captain Yuri flings a hail of shuriken and kunai at us. When they get close I hold up my hand. Chakra strings shoot from my palm and connect with the incoming projectiles. They stop in mid air. Wow. Nine at once. I didn't even know I could do that.

The thrown knives turn around in the air and shoot back towards the thrower. He blocks a few with his tanto, but most miss horribly.

"Nice trick." I make a small shadow clone army of fifteen, which takes almost a quarter of my chakra. Then, we attack, from all directions.

* * *

Rei, Kaito and I are lying on our backs on the ground, panting. It's cold out, so at least we're not sweating too hard. The sun is starting to speed towards the horizon, and a thick cloud cover almost obscures it's existence. I gasp in air, trying to circulate my remaining chakra through my body to fix the scratches and bruises. There's no way we could win.

"You guys done? I'm about ready for lunch." Sensei taunts. Kaito jumps to his feet.

"No way! We're gonna take those bells no matter-" He crumples to the ground, passed out for the second time today.

"Well then, judging by your conditions, I think I can say that you..."

 _don'tsayit_ don'tsayit _don'tsayit_

"Passed! Congratulations, the object of the test was teamwork. I was watching all of you the entire time. So... who likes barbeque?"

"Me! Me!" I gasp, sitting up straight. He smiles.

"Great, I'm glad. What's your favorite restaurant?"

"Ichiraku Ramen, although it isn't barbeque they do have barbeque ramen."

"How about we go there instead then."

"Thank you, Sensei!"

 _I DID IT! YES! MY NINJA CAREER BEGINS!_


	22. Chapter 22: My First C-Rank

**Yes, I'm back, guys, I spent the last week hiking across the wilderness on the Canada / Minnesota border lakes with some friends. It was cold. Like, -45º cold. At least I didn't freeze, eh? Although my bottle of maple syrup I was drinking from did freeze. :(**

 **Okay, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I doubt Canadians drink maple syrup or say "eh", but everyone there was really nice. So I guess some stereotypes are true! Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"If you want to see what someone fears losing, watch what they photograph."

-Somewhere on Ifunny

* * *

"The objective is in sight. Commencing operation." Kaito's voice comes over the radio headset that's attached to our ears.

"You don't even know what that means." Rei's robotic voice fills my ears.

"Yes I do! Shut up!" Kaito's voice blares in my ear, drilling a hole in the side of my head.

"Ow, too loud!" I whimper. The demonic creature leaps into the air, startled by the sound, and scampers off. "Kaito, you scared it away!"

"Oh. Sorry."

"Che. What an idiot."

"Now now, everyone! I trust that we aren't arguing in my absence?"

"Sensei! You've been listening in the whole time! You didn't hear what I said to Rei earlier, did you?" Kaito crackles over the headset.

"Hurry up and catch that cat so we can go on a real mission." Yuri says, suddenly serious.

"Okay!"

"Kaito, shut up."

"Okay."

"Damn it, Kaito..."

"Hey guys, I see the cat. Let's prepare for another capture, this time, without Kaito screaming and running everything."

"All right..." They both grumble, and we take positions around Tora on the rooftops, ready to pounce.

"Alright. Go!" Rei commands, and the three of us jump down and corner the cat, trapping it in between us.

"Gotcha!" Kaito dives for the cat. Tora jumps straight up into the air, over his hands, and runs off down the alley, snarling. Rei takes off after it, but that thing is _fast_. I point a finger at the demon cat's collar and the blue string makes the connection. The cat shoots up, held ten feet off the ground but still wiggling it's horrible feet in an attempt to run.

"Don't kill it, Sarah!"

The cat falls limp, hanging by it's collar, but still alive. Unfortunately.

"I'll try to restrain myself. Sensei, the cat is in our custody."

"Excellent! Bring him to the Hokage tower without killing it."

Kaito stares at the cat hanging from it's collar in horror.

"Like cats?" I ask, casually.

He nods. "I used to have one. His name was Mr. Whiskers and I-"

"I hate them."

* * *

"Kaito, go shut the door. It's freezing in here."

"No! You do it!"

"Bitch."

"Shut up, Rei! Or I'll destroy you!"

Rei scoffs. "You really want to fight? Don't you remember what happened last time?"

"You only won 'cause I tripped on that stupid piece 'a moss!" Kaito outrages.

"You just admitted that I won."

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did."

I watch the argument between the two idiots continue from the top bunk of a small cabin. There are eight bunk beds around the small room, which is made of a disarrayed mix of wooden planks and logs.

"You're just angry 'cuz I'm better looking than you!" Kaito shouts angrily. "Tell him I'm right, Sarah!"

"Hmmm." I reply, and continue reading my new book: (Sealing and the Art of Lines.) So far I have learned... Drumroll please... How to teleport using the Hirashin seal of the Fourth Hokage and seal jinchuuriki! Just kidding. I've learned absolutely nothing. It makes no sense at all. Apparently, you have to make squiggly lines on paper until they do something. I sigh and close the book.

"See? That means she likes me more!"

"She said 'hmmm'. She didn't even respond."

"Sarah, which one of us is better looking?"

"Rei, just get up and close the door. It's four feet away from you and we've lost all the warm air in here." I command.

"You do it, fatso."

"No."

"Lazy bitch."

"If I'm so lazy and you're not, then you should have no problem getting up and closing the door."

"Shut up."

"The reason you collect so many 'action figures' is probably because you can't make any real friends." I insult him.

"While we're on the topic of collections, why don't we talk about your enormous collection of body fat?" Rei returns. Before I could fire off another argument, Sensei walks through the door.

"So, what'r you guys talking about?" He says, in a light, happy tone, but his eyes promise death. Captain Yuri walks in, closing the door behind him, and leans against the upper bunk closest to the wall.

"Fuck." Rei says.

"Oh, you know... The weather. Cold outside, isn't it?" Kaito lies. Rei sends him a death glare.

"How much did you hear?"

"Everything!" Sensei replies, in a light, happy voice, as if he were talking about rainbows and butterflies. "You know, I was thinking about applying for another C-Rank mission soon, since you guys haven't been arguing recently, but it looks like your teamwork has taken a _tiny_ turn for the worse."

"Rei! It's all your fault! If you had just gotten up and closed the door, then none of this would have happened!" Kaito yells, pointing an accusatory finger. Rei smacks his palm to his forehead and shakes his head in disappointment.

"Anyway, it's time to make the rounds again."

Shuffling noises fill the cabin as we struggle to get ready. I toss the textbook off my lap and jump down from the top bunk, zipping my coat as I fall. We leave the patrol station, And follow Sensei through the trees around the 'perimeter' of our camp, which only he can see. The perimeter seal creates a giant circle, and allows basic detection along the circumference. Only the user can see the circle's outline. Suddenly, Sensei stops on a branch, silently. He raises a sort of short-distance walkie-talkie to his mouth.

"Two unknown chakra signatures, one water type and one earth type at section five. Chuunin level or higher."

"Understood." A crackly voice comes from the small black device. "Can you take them?"

"Che, you doubt my ability? Although I am with my genin team."

"Leave the area. I'm sending Kotetsu and Izumo to identify or capture them."

"No, I can take them."

"Understood. Be careful." The radio turns off with a click and Captain Yuri hooks it back on his belt.

"Let's go."

We creep closer to the signatures, and soon, I can feel them. They seem fairly strong. We approach a trail in the woods, and we wait in the trees. I feel their chakras coming down the path. Sensei pulls out two explosive tags and ties them to kunai. He sets a timer and drops them into the path from the tree above. The enemy ninja travel over the top of a hill, and they are in sight, running fast toward the detonation zone.

"Whoa!"

I look to the side just in time to see Kaito slip and fall off the branch, onto the path. Right on top of the explosives.

"Enemy ninja!" One of the enemy yells, and they jump backwards into the trees, outside of the blast radius.

"Damn it!" Captain Yuri yells, as he jumps down and scoops up the terrified Kaito.

 _BOOM!_ Yuri jumps out of the way of the explosion just in time, carrying Kaito bridal-style, as the blast echoes through the woods. Rei and I jump back and away from the fireball. The explosion incinerates the tree we were just standing on. Fuck. I almost died. The two enemy ninja jump down out of the trees and land on one side of the crater. Captain Yuri jumps down on the other side.

"The Hyuuga clan's biggest embarrassment, is it?" One speaks. 'Biggest embarrassment?' I mouth to Rei. He shrugs. Down in the newly created clearing, the enemy ninja sneer evilly. "It'll be my pleasure to tarnish your reputation even further!" The ninja on the left pulls out a short sword, while the other performs a few handsigns. "Earth style! Earth spikes!" Spikes of dirt fly out from under his feet and shoot towards Yuri. Yuri can dodge this, right?

A spike of dirt launches upward between Sensei's feet. Time slows down for a second. Yuri doesn't react fast enough.

The spike of dirt tears into his body, ripping it apart. Blood splatters over the brown spikes. The spikes retract, and his body falls to the ground. "I didn't think it would be _that_ easy." One of the ninja chuckles. They both laugh.

How was that even possible? Earth spikes is a B-ranked Jutsu and Sensei is an elite jonin. There's no way he could really be dead. No way. He's hiding somewhere, maybe even underground. I spread my senses, but I can't find him. Could he really be dead?

"Sensei!" Comes a yell from the woods, and Kaito runs out. "Damn you!" He yells at the enemy ninja. They chuckle.

"What do you intend to do about it, brat?"

"Water style! Aqua bullet!" Kaito forms three handsigns and holds hands together, straight out in front of him, like a gun.

'Tsssu! Tsssu! Tsssu!' Bullets made of water surge at the enemy, whistling as they fly, Kaito wears a surprised look.

'Tssu! Sssu!' Kaito keeps shooting.

"Earth style! Earth style wall!" The opposition calls out, and a wall of stone rises from the ground to protect the enemy. The water bullets dig into the surface of the wall but don't break through.

"Let's help him!" I yell over the singing of the bullets.

"Sure. Whatever." Rei and I jump down next to Kaito.

"Three little brats? Oh no, now I'm scared!" One of the enemy ninja taunts. Kaito stops firing as the Jutsu ends.

"Hey, look who's hiding behind a wall!" Kaito fires back.

The ninja launch a barrage of explosive kunai at us. "Shadow clone Jutsu!" I call out, making the cross sign, and a bunch of copies of me appear. The clones form pairs, and one tosses the other up into the air. Ten or so of my clones fly up into the air, and each grab two explosive kunai out of the air and, while in midair, throw them back at the enemy. They then dissipate in a cloud of smoke. The explosive kunai hit the earth wall and it explodes, chunks of dirt and rock flying everywhere.

"Nice!" Kaito applauds.

"Where is the enemy?" I ask.

"There!" Yells Rei. A giant fuma shuriken flies out of the cloud of dust. That thing'll cut through a kunai and most defenses. I can't block it. There is nothing nearby to deflect it. I'm too close to it to dodge. The shuriken is wide enough to cut the three of us in half. Kaito is standing in the middle, and I'm on one side and Rei is on the other. If I use chakra ropes to alter the course of the shuriken so it will either kill me and Kaito or Rei and Kaito. Is my life more important than Rei's because I know the future? I can't decide. I just stand there. Damn it! All three of us are going to die.

"Earth style! Headhunter Jutsu!"

A hole appears under my feet and Kaito's feet, and we both fall down in into the hole. The shuriken is just inches away from Rei. You can't use Headhunter Jutsu on yourself. He just sacrificed himself to save us.

"Not on my watch! Wind style! Gale Palm!" Sensei shoots into the clearing, a hand outstretched. A beam of wind shoots from his hand and it intercepts the fuma shuriken. The shuriken flips sideways, knocked out of the air. Sensei lands in front of Rei, hands outstretched in a classic Hyuuga taijutsu stance. However, it's not the gentle fist form. "If one of my students died, I would have to do a lot of paperwork, and paperwork is boring."

"Huh?" The enemy ninja gape. "But we killed you!"

"Sensei!" Kaito yells.

One minute Sensei is there, the next, he's gone, so fast that he is only a blur, a white missile, homing in on his victims. His footprints, dug four inches down into the hard-packed dirt are the only trace that he was standing there. He appears in front of one of the enemy ninja, then disappears again in a blur of motion, jumping into the air while spinning a 360, then landing a vicious spinning sidekick on the side of the enemy's head. While he was performing the kick, he forms ten lightning-fast handsigns and landing from the sidekick he spins around and plants his hands in the nukite position directly into the other enemy's chest. For a moment, they just stand there and nothing happens, until lightning erupts from Yuri's hands and spread across the enemy's chest. The enemy screams and convulses, then falls to the ground, unconscious. The other ninja flies out of the clearing from the force of the kick and smashes through several giant trees. He's not getting back up. Yuri's 'body' disappears in a puff of smoke, revealing a transformed log. The body was a transformed log.

Sensei turns around to face us. "Well," he says, "You guys failed. You know what you're supposed to do if I'm incapacitated during battle. No more C-Ranks until spring or until one of you is competent enough to actually follow at least half of the shinobi rules."

I sigh. "Yes, Sensei." Typical Yuri-Sensei.


	23. Chapter 23: Guy Shenanigans

**"To others we are not ourselves but performers in their lives cast for a part we do not even know we are playing."**

-Elizabeth Bibesco

* * *

Captain Yuri stands, head tall above most of the crowd. He has his ANBU mask on, but I can tell it's him. I'm not supposed to be here. Two men in ANBU masks step up into the clearing, and smack their fists together, all at once. A large rectangular area of the ground sinks downward. This is where the caskets will be laid. There is complete silence, nobody, moves, nobody speaks, nobody cries. There are only about thirty people there. All are wearing ANBU masks, except Kaito, Rei, Choji and I. There is no speech and no flowers, no headstone.

Except for memories in everyone's minds, these six people never lived. A few weeks ago, Captain Yuri left active ANBU service to be our Sensei. A new Captain replaced him on his team. All six of his team, including the new ANBU Captain were slaughtered.

Who could be powerful enough to kill five A-Ranked ninja and an elite jonin all at once? The Akatsuki is the only thing that comes to mind. The six bodies are dropped into the hole. The two ANBU clap their hands together again and the grassy, leafy terrain of the forest floor covers the bodies.

Everyone bows their heads, and then- all the ANBU except Captain Yuri disappear at once, not a noise, not a trace. It's as if Team 15 went for a walk in the woods and Choji decided to come along. Sensei takes off his mask, and it disappears in a puff of chakra smoke.

"Thank you."

"Huh?" Asks Kaito.

"If you hadn't been your sensei and transferred out of the ANBU, I would be dead right now." We pause in a moment of awkward silence.

"But if you fought whoever did this, you would win, for sure!" Kaito says brightly.

Yuri-Sensei looks up at the clouds. "No, I wouldn't. My men were strong. And someone tossed them out like garbage." He clenches his fists. "And there's nothing I can do."

"I'll kill whoever hurt your friends, you can count on that!" Kaito says brightly, smashing his fists together. Yuri chuckles.

"Well, I like your enthusiasm. Would you guys like to see the names on the Memorial Stone? They're heroes, after all, and they fought for us with their lives."

"I'd like that." Rei suddenly speaks up. Choji waves to me and walks off towards the village.

We walk slowly through the woods towards Training Ground 24, the resting place of the memorial stone. When we arrive, someone is already there. A tall man is sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree, holding up a book to his face, but eyes glued to the letters on the stone.

"Hello, Yuri."

"Hello, Kakashi."

"People keep dying." Kakashi says, eyes still on the stone.

"I know." Yuri says, sitting down on a fallen log near the stone. I can't imagine what it feels like to be him.

"Friends?" Kakashi asks.

"Some. My ANBU team. A few childhood friends. We were family. Now I'm the only one left."

"I know what it's like to be the only one left. You can stop by my place and talk about it sometime if you like."

"No, I'm fine." Yuri replies, "It's just that... Every time I close my eyes I see them... In the jonin lounge playing cards, or... us singing together at a bar, completely drunk, or... those times when we fought together, and had each other's backs... I just can't forget."

"You shouldn't forget about them. Just don't live in the past, don't hold on to them, let them go. At least, that's what everyone else tells me."

Rei, Kaito and I stand awkwardly, just outside of the clearing's edge.

"We aren't alone here, are we?" Kakashi asks, more of a statement than anything else.

"No, Yuri says, "That's my genin team. Would you like to meet them?"

Kakashi stands up. "No. Not today, anyway. I have to head home now. The lady in the apartment above me asked me to help her move her old coffee table out to the dumpster. See ya' later."

"See ya'. Wait a minute! Don't you live on the top floor?" But it was too late. Kakashi had already disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Yuri shrugs. "I wonder what book he was reading. Icha Icha Paradise, huh? I'll have to check it out. You guys want to go for barbeque?"

Silence.

"Uhh. Sure." I was the first to talk.

* * *

A small bell tinkles as we walk through the door to the barbecue restaurant. I scan the people there. Nobody that I know... Wait a minute. Did I just see... Green spandex?

"Yuri-Sensei! We have to get out of here!" I whisper. The hostess sees us.

Too late.

"Captain Yuri!" A slim, busty waitress exclaims. "Where have you been the past few weeks? You haven't brought your team for lunch in a while!" She leans over the hostess' podium, poking her butt out suggestively. "Can I get you something?" She asks nervously, handing him a menu.

"First you can get us a table." Yuri says, calmly. He is clearly deeply distracted by a newspaper, and doesn't break eye contact with it, studying the paper like there's a test on it tomorrow. Yes, this has been going on for several weeks. I think you could safely say that Yuri isn't into her. The Hostess (Nikimi) blushes deeply.

"Oh yes, of course! Your friends Asuma and Gai are here. Would you like to sit with them?"

"No!" I yelp, but Yuri clamps a hand over my mouth.

"Yes, we would."

The hostess looks crestfallen. She show us to our table, anyway.

"Guy scares her away, it's worth it." Yuri whispers in my ear. I nod.

The hostess leaves to go back to her podium, and we sit down in a the booth with Asuma's team. The booth was the kind that goes around in a half circle, perfect for three teams.

"Yuri! I heard about what happened to your ANBU team. I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, it's alright. Nothin a good bit of time and exercise can't heal." He says lightly, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Captain Yuri! How unyouthful! How could you ignore such a youthful woman as her?!" Guy yells in outrage. The restaurant goes quiet. Forks falling into dishes and chopsticks being dropped are the only sounds that could be heard. Thirty heads turn our way.

"Her heart must be in pieces!" Guy slams his fist down on the table, causing the plates and silverware to rattle loudly. .Watery tears appear on Guy's lower eyelids. "It's so sad that I almost want to cry!"

"Yes Guy-Sensei! It is so sad that I almost want to cry as well!" Lee yells, punching his fist up into the air, tears brimming over in his eyes.

"Yes, Lee! Youth!" Guy yells.

"Yes, Guy-Sensei!" They share a gigantic high-five.

"Now, twenty laps around the Konoha walls!"

"Yes, Guy-Sensei!" Lee stands up, salutes dramatically, and speeds out of the restaurant, only a green blur. The speed of Lee's dash out the door caused a breeze to flow through restaurant, carrying away tapestries and tablecloths. The shocked diners sit still, silently, and eventually, after a few more minutes of staring, go back to their conversations.

"And you, my youthful princess! My eternal rival's own daughter, in the flesh!"

Oh no.

"I'm not Kakashi's daughter."

"How could you say that!? Disowning your own parents is a most unyouthful act! I shall be your uncle! You may call me... Uncle Guy!" He finishes. He then leaps across the table, crushing me in a hug.

"Ow. You're hurting me." I complain.

"Pain is only weakness leaving the body! Embrace the pain! You have much to learn!" He exclaims. "In fact, since my Eternal Rival refuses to take care of you, I will take the burden myself! From this point on, I hereby... Adopt you!"

My blood runs cold.

"No, Guy-San, I already have a-"

"Guy?" Yuri interrupts me.

"Yes?" The spandex terror replies.

"Get off my student."

"Ahem. Oh, yes. right. Of course." Guy releases me and retreats back to his seat, suddenly civilized. "So, dearest Sarah, have you actually seen Kakashi recently or has he completely ignored you?"

"No, he ignores me."

"What a terrible thing to do to your child."

"Hey, Guy? Just drop it, okay?" Says Asuma.

"Alright, alright, whatever."

We lapse into silence for a few minutes, until the waitress comes to take our orders.

"It's almost like the old days now," says Asuma, holding up a ball of rice with his chopsticks as if to prove a point, "except we have the next generation here with us."

"The Kings." I say softly.

"What was that, Sarah?" Asuma asks. I shrug and push another ball of rice into my mouth.

"Yeah." Yuri says wistfully. "But we're missing Kakashi and Kurenai. And Obito and Kiren."

"Well, actually, I asked Kurenai to come, but she turned red and didn't say anything. I hope I didn't make her feel bad." Asuma says.

"Like her student... What's her name again?" Guy remembers.

"Hinata."

"Oh. right. Well, Yuri, thanks for the meal, but I have to go. If I don't finish twenty-thousand pushups by three-O-clock I'm gonna have to do twenty-five thousand tomorrow, so I better get to it!"

"Alright, see you later, Guy. Wait a minute! Get back here! I'm not paying for all this!"

Too late. Guy sprints out of the shop, causing another wind to blow through the restaurant.

"Well, Yuri? Split the bill?"

"No. Rock-paper-scissors."

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"

"Yes!"

"Dang it!" Yuri opens his wallet and shakes it onto the table. A few lonely coins fall out. "Aww, man! Come on, Asuma! I thought we were friends!"


	24. Chapter 24: Just Thinking

The last month and a half were spent doing D-Ranks. Exiting stuff, right? Well, at least all the other teams are still doing D-Ranks as well, so we aren't too far behind. I've spent my downtime training and theorizing about chakra. Why do you have to call out jutsu to use them? Or use handseals? Is it a type of communication? Maybe, the handseals are actually words in a different language and our chakras are actually alive, and when we make handseals we are commanding them to do something for us. If I ever discussed this with anyone, they would think I was a demon incarnate. Ideas about chakra are almost religious. Anyway, outside, the snow was removed a few days ago by a huge rainstorm, and flowers and buds and springy stuff are already appearing. I like winter a lot more, because all the bugs and mosquitoes go back to hell (Where they belong) and you can actually walk through the woods without having to bushwack with a machete. Not to mention skiing, but they don't have that here.

And that brings me to the next topic of this one-sided discussion, which is money. I could be sooo rich, just by using common, ordinary ideas from Earth and claiming them as my own. Like skiing. Or iceskating. Or even guns and stuff. Although they would be kinda useless because ninjas could easily dodge bullets, but that way ordinary citizens could protect themselves from thugs with no ninja training at all, and we ninja wouldn't have to do so many stupid thug-camp-defeating missions. This world is actually really unbalanced. Unless you're a ninja, born with exceptional qualities or a daimo, your life is futile and useless. I think I remember mostly how modern car engines work, and even things like airships, which only exists in fantasy here, is a simple concept to me. I even remember a few things from school (A feat in it's own) like nuclear and atomic theories, and I know how nuclear fission and fusion works on a very basic level. Not to mention that biology, astronomy, and economics literally don't exist here. Why? Probably because everyone is so focused on killing each other that science is only focused on battle.

Here's an example:

Ninjas use shuriken to fight. For a mass-destruction weapon, instead of using their superior gunpowder substitute, exploding tags, and a little creativity to make a canon or missile, instead they literally just make a bigger shuriken, and load it into a bastardised trebuchet that looks like it came from someone's second-grade science project. Bigger shuriken = Bigger destruction, right? No! It's useless. Nobody has any creativity left. People just do what their dad did, which is what their dad did, and their dad did... which is stupid because there is an entire clan devoted to being smart. Another thing to note is that one of Pein's paths actually shoots missiles and bullets and stuff. Where did this idea come from? When you activate the jutsu, the paths just appear, no imagination involved. So Pein didn't come up with the idea. Is it possible that missiles are actually just lost technology? And remember that filler episode when Naruto gets attacked by that robot? A real robot. IS it possible that there was a civilization before the Naruto timeline, that maybe Kaguya destroyed? Maybe she destroyed all technology so nobody could usurp her power.

Which brings me to the next question. Similar technology, like cameras, TV screens, similar building styles and materials, similar foods, fruits and vegetables, similar customs and a similar culture to feudal Japan, almost modern clothing styles (Like hoodies, tuxedos, suits, and other 'normal' clothing). Also, one sun and one moon, and here's the clincher- the other night, while theorizing, I went outside to look at the stars. And I saw... I shit u not, the big dipper. Like, Ursa Major. And Polaris. Then I started to notice other constellations, like Orion, and Cassiopiea. I never noticed those stars where there before.

So, here's my final theory: Assuming that the Narutoverse is as real as it seems to be, and I'm not just somehow magically stuck inside a book, I think that " _Naruto"_ takes place far, far in the future, after some kind of apocalypse that destroyed past civilizations almost completely. If I'm right, then what does that make me? Not taken to another planet or reborn into another dimension, but _reincarnated._ Still on Earth. And what does that make the author of " _Naruto"_? A time traveller? Trying to warn us of something, maybe? Or just selling a true story to get rich? Or maybe the author wrote " _Naruto"_ specifically for me, knowing that someone would be reincarnated into the future, but not who, so that I could change the future. But why would he care? He must be somehow related to the plot of Naruto. Or maybe, When I get older, I figure out how to go to the past, tell someone the story of " _Naruto"_ , and make them go back to the past and write it as a fun story because I failed the first time. And now, because of the loop in time, this is my second attempt, and armed with the knowledge of the plot of Naruto, I can make a difference this time. Is this too complicated? It makes sense to me, and if you really think about it, it's totally possible. It's not difficult to understand when thinking about it theoretically, but when you realize it's real life, things become very different. Now that we're done bending our minds, I'm gonna go do something about it.

"Hello Sarah. How nice of you to visit. Oh, and Naruto, too! I hope you've been keeping him out of trouble." Hiruzen chuckles.

"Actually," Naruto asserts in his high, obnoxious voice, "Just last week me and Sarah pranked this-" I clap my hand over his mouth.

"That's enough of that, Naruto." He struggles for a moment, but then obeys. I take my hand away from his mouth.

"Why don't you two come and sit down." The Third Hokage motions to two chairs in front of his desk. Behind him, on the other side of the window, a light drizzle of rain begins to fall.

"Actually, Naruto, I need you to leave for a few minutes. We're going to be talking about boring stuff."

"Oh, come on! What stuff? Tell me! I just wanna know, you can trust me! Please, Sarah-Chan? Pleeease?" Naruto whines.

"Economics. And rocket propulsion. And astronomy. Do you really want to listen to that?"

"Oh, yeah, nevermind! I'll just be outside, I guess, I'll find something to do... Bye!" Naruto scampers out of the room, forgetting to close the giant red doors behind him. A chakra rope and the flick of a wrist closes it.

"Impressive. I see your jutsu is coming along nicely?"

"Yes, Hokage-Sama."

"So. Economics?" He takes a sip of tea.

"Maybe another time. That was just to scare him off. Do you mind sending the ANBU out, and turning on the privacy seals?"

Hiruzen makes a quick hand motion, and four puffs of smoke emanate from around the room. A quiet humming indicates that the silencing seals are in place.

"So, what is the reason for this visit?"

"Soon, there will be a request for a C-Rank mission. It is not a C-Rank. A pair of chunin from the Mist have been hired to kill anyone who takes the mission. It's a death trap. In my vision, Team 7 takes the mission, however, Kakashi defeats the 'Demon Brothers' swiftly. However, I don't know if maybe my existence, and therefore the existence of Captain Yuri, might have changed anything. A while ago, I had a vision in which I witnessed that Yuri-Sensei was killed with the other five ANBU, and his burial was supposed to occur a day after the day that the actual burial occurred. Because I exist, Yuri-Sensei's life was saved when he transferred out of ANBU and decided to be my Sensei. Maybe that changed something, maybe there are reprocussions of this event that we don't know."

"So, you're saying that you can only see what the world would have looked like if you did not exist."

"Correct." Hiruzen takes another sip of tea.

"And strangely, almost every vision I have has something to do with Naruto."

"So you think he is important to the 'timeline' of this world?"

"It's like he's the main character of a story."

"Hmm. So what do you think we should do about the C-Rank you mentioned, given that you're the only person that has actually seen what will happen?"

"I think you should send our team, Team 15. Yuri-Sensei has proved to be very capable, and that way I will be able to detect if anything changes. We should tell Kakashi that we will be there for a separate mission, and we will be coincidentally be taking the same path. In actuality, We would secretly trail them throughout the duration of their mission, and only intervene if they need help."

"I can agree to that." Hiruzen says. I'll take it up with Yuri to see if he is willing to do this. This could be a strenuous mission for him if he is to protect you and the rest of your team, but in the mission report he says that your team fought very well without him against a genin-level and a chunin- level missing-nin."

"Thank you."

"Very well, I will send Team 7 and Team 15. Interestingly, I recieved a C-Rank mission request from a bridge builder named Tazuna this morning. I think I have enough evidence to prove that your 'visions' are true." He says.

"That's the one."

"Excellent. Is there anything else you would like to talk about? Please make it fast. I have a meeting very soon." He asks kindly, glancing at a clock on the wall to his right.

"I would like to talk to Shikamaru and his father about some ideas for some new weapons that could easily give Konoha the upper edge in battle."

"You know you could just walk up to Shikaku and talk to him, right?" He chuckles. "I don't think you know the weight you pull around here. The last female Hatake, potential kekkai genkai user, rumored to be the daughter of the famed Copy Ninja, and the daughter of a renowned clan head? You don't need me for that. Simply walk up and ask."

Hell yeah. Apparently I do have some credibility already. My life is going to be so much easier now.

"I assume Shikaku already knows of my visions and is theorizing and taking full advantage of them?"

"Not yet."

"That is all."

"Thank you for stopping by, and here-" He says as I start to stand up. In his fingers there is a little red strip of paper. An Ichiraku Ramen coupon. "Use it wisely." He instructs. I nod, and walk through the large red doors.

* * *

"Your student is an interesting one." Kakashi says, leaning back on Asuma's white and green sofa, his arm over the top. Yuri sits across from Kakashi in an armchair. His legs are crossed, and on the armrest, there is a glass of water in his hand. The glass is upside down, but, magically, still sticking to the bottom of the glass.

"She is. Did you hear what she said when she used her jutsu on Sakura?" Yuri says, casually.

"I did."

"Do you remember what she said? When she said Naruto carries a burden none of us know about?"

Shikaku nods. "She knows too much."

"Could she be a spy?" Asuma asks, readjusting his legs so that they are crossed over his lap.

"Pffff. She appeared out of nowhere, that's true, and she has no relation to anyone living or dead inside Konoha _According to Lord Third_ , but there's no way Lord Third wouldn't be able to see through her transformation." Yuri says.

"And if she was using a transformation that Lord Third couldn't see through, that would mean that she's more powerful than Lord Third. Then she wouldn't need to infiltrate- she would simply kill us all." Asuma agrees.

"Hey, just because you're not a Kage-level ninja doesn't mean that we can't stop a Kage." Yuri challenges.

"Oh really? Awaken your kekkai genkai, and then we'll talk." Asuma fires back.

"Is that what you guys say every time now? Making fun of birth defects isn't cool, bro."

"Bro? Asks Shikaku. What's a bro?"

"I don't know, Sarah said it. It's supposed to mean 'friend', I think."

"Anyways," Says Asuma, standing up and grabbing his glass, "Who wants some sake?"

"I'll take a little."

"Same."

"Kakashi?" Asks Asuma, walking to the kitchen. No noise comes from the Copy Ninja. "Sake?"

"Oh, sorry, what? I wasn't listening."


	25. Chapter 25: The Wave Starts

**_"_ Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought that no-one but myself...'"**

 **-C.S. Lewis**

* * *

 _*Knock Knock Knock*_

 _*Knock*_

 _*Knock Knock Knock*_

I put my ear to the door.

 _"Shikamaru! Go get the door!"_

 _"In a minute, mum."_

 _"No! Right now!"_

 _"Ugghhh..."_

The door finally opens. Shikamaru's bleary eyes peer down at me. "Sarah? What are you doing here?" He slurs, blinking sleep out of his eyes.

"Do you like explosions?"

"No. they're too lively, and loud... I much prefer, like, still water. Or rocks."

"Shikamaru..."

"Fine, whatever, come in." Shikamaru opens the door fully to allow me inside.

The Nara compound is much different from the Akimichi. Shikamaru's house has a similar homey feel. The walls have a brown wooden baseboard that goes up the wall the first two and a half feet or so, and then above that the walls are painted dark green. There are paintings of landscapes here and there in the hallways, and each haas a different saying or thought experiment written in the middle.

"Where's your mom?"

"Upstairs, folding clothes." Shikamaru directs me to his living room. He sits down on a couch, and I pull up a chair next to the coffee table that sits between us. "So, what are you here for?"

I reach into my pocket and pull out a sealing tag. I unseal it, and a notebook and pen falls out in a puff of chakra smoke. I toss the notebook to him. "Page 52."

He flips to the page slowly, taking a moment to look at the diagrams and thoughts written in there. He raises his eyebrows at the page on my chakra theories. "Hm. Interesting." Finally, he flips to the right page. "Launching tubes full of exploding tags, huh?"

"Yep- the idea is that you would have a large, hollow bamboo tube strapped to your back with some exploding tags in the end. you take some tissue paper or foam and shove it in on top of the tags. then wrap a kunai in exploding tags, set a timer, then wrap it in tissue paper and put it in the tube. Then channel chakra into the exploding tags in the back of the tube, aim the tube, and the kunai should be shot."

"Let's try it."

"That's the spirit, Shikamaru!"

* * *

Half an hour later, we're at Training Grounds 34. Training Ground 34 is one of my favorite, because it has a bunch of little barbie doll houses.

"Aim it lower!"

Boom! Wait a second... BOOM!

The dollhouse is blown to splinters, and a large crater is dug out underneath. This is for long-range warfare though, not up-close. The kunai didn't even go straight. Maybe we change the shape of the kunai? And add fins?

It's a few days later when the Akimichi compound weapon manufacturer can make what is essentially a metal model rocket stuffed with exploding tags. The seal that is ignited, in the back of the rocket, has a timer. When that one goes off, the wave of chakra makes the others explode as well. Elite ninja don't have to use timers- they just send out a pulse of chakra to ignite the tags. But with the 'Tube Rocket', the tags will be too far away because the thing shoots really far. But that's okay. It still destroys stuff. Anyway, now that I at least have two, I'm going to take it down to the Konoha Armory as a new potential weapon, where it will be caught in months of red tape. Eventually, it'll be available for shinobi use.

* * *

On a completely different topic, This morning I went down to say goodbye to Team 7. The Wave Mission has begun. Tonight, we take off after them. And I really need my own sword.

I rummage through my room. Under the bed? No. Under the giant piles of assorted clean and dirty laundry? No. My Long Term Mission Emergency Dessert scroll is gone. Long Term Dinner, Breakfast, Lunch, and Snacks were all in the usual drawer. Where did that scroll go? Oh. Here it is. Behind my bedside table. Empty. Of course.

I sigh and grab it, intending on filling it up later. I toss it into my backpack.

I won't be filling it up later. I toss everything else in my backpack and run down the stairs. "Good luck, Sarah!"

"Bye dad. Tell Choji I said bye." He kisses me on the forehead and I run out the door. Ah, what does it matter. I'm going to be late anyway. I might as well walk.

"Sarah! You're LATE!"

"Yeah, whatever, Kaito." I lean on my knees to catch my breath. "I'm ready."

"Alright then! I trust you all have everything, or do I need to interrogate you guys?"

"We're good." We all groan, synchroniously.

"Alright, let's go! Follow me."

* * *

Ten hours later, we stop at a small village. We check the map. We're not even close to the Wave Country. My legs hurt. I'm tired. Why me?

Now that we're at another small village, stopped for our second night of travel, I realize that I've literally been waiting for something to happen. some kind of robbery, or dramatic plot of revenge, or something like that. In the " _Naruto"_ Anime, everywhere Team 7 goes something interesting happens. However, something might happen tonight, since Team 7 is in the room across the hall. We caught up with them. But that's because, I realize, the anime is elapsed over time. A lot of time. Wave mission is now, and chronologically, after the Wave Mission is over, the next " _Naruto"_ episode would probably take place a month from now. Episode or plot event has a few weeks in between, and " _Naruto"_ only shows you the interesting parts. Because everyday life is just as boring as it was in my last life.

Except...

Moving things with my mind is highly entertaining. I'm working on improving my use of the Chakra Rope Jutsu by twirling a bunch of coins around my hand and weaving them in between my fingers. Sometimes I "Accidentally lose control" And one flies over and hits Kaito in the head, and then I'm "Very sorry, I won't lose control again". And then five minutes later...

Literally, we don't have to read or have phones to be entertained. All we need is Kaito and Rei. So far, Kaito has tripped 3 times, _on a mostly flat road,_ and then Kaito and Rei fight, get angry, separate, make up an hour later, than fight again. My Chakra Ropes are pretty small now, about the size of fishing line. Unfortunately they glow bright blue so they are totally noticeable. But I've been practicing since last fall, and now it's March 21. So, almost six months. And speaking of that... April Fools. I'm so exited. And nobody is gonna have any idea what's going on. All they're gonna know is that December 25th is the day I give people free stuff, and April first is the day I destroy people's lives. And I would dress up on October 31, except apparently that day is the day everyone wears something black to commemorate the death of the First Hokage, so I don't think it would be appropriate. Maybe I could just wear my Sarah Hatake cosplay.

"Let's go to the hot springs. My feet are tired." Kaito complains.

"Sure, let's go." I hop off my queen size bed (YES! CAPTAIN YURI PAID FOR A REAL HOTEL!) and open my backpack. We each got a queen bed. Rei is asleep on his. I pull out my clothing scroll. And a bag of chips. What? I'm hungry, okay? Unsealing my towel, a black T-shirt and grey sweatpants, I look over to see what Kaito's doing. Now, Kaito. He brought a f***ing suitcase. A big, black suitcase. For a trip in which we will be traveling on a bumpy, cobblestone road. No, unfortunately, uniform roads are not a thing, and also, cement was just invented. Like, two years ago. People still marvel at cement roads, which are very rare. Kaito tears through the suitcase, tossing clothes all over the room. I toss on my clothes quickly while Kaito is facing the other way, 'cause the bathroom is down the hall five million miles, up the stairs, on the other side of the labyrinth, past the Minotaur, just over the Hydra, down three more flights of stairs and the next doorway to the right. Have a nice night! -The Lady at the Desk

"Ah, here it is! Hehe, ha!" Kaito runs over to Rei's bed with a black marker in his hand. "This is gonna be funny!"

I roll my eyes. "This is the kind of thing I would expect from Naruto, not you." In fact, Naruto is probably doing the exact same thing to Sasuke right now. Or tonight. Either way.

"What? Naruto? No way. He acts like a five-year-old. I wouldn't do that!" Kaito protests. Pff. Kaito? Not acting like a five-year-old? Since when? "Hey, wait a minute! Come look! Someone already drew on him!" How is he not awake with Kaito screaming? I walk over to see Rei's face. Kaito was right. There is a smily face on his forehead... and a penis on his cheek. In blue pen. Kaito's pen is black.

"What? It wasn't me."

"Not me either!"

"It must have been..."

"Captain Yuri!"

Just then, Captain Yuri walks into the room and leans on the doorframe, with bright green and dark red floral Hawaiian swimming shorts and cheap sunglasses. You know, the ones with those two little silver beads on each frame in the top left and corners, and a white towel over his shoulder. And he is... well defined. Wow. Now I feel totally inadequate. As a ninja, of course. "Guilty as charged!" He chuckles, holding up a blue pen. "Great prank, right? I'm hittin' the baths. Come with?" I give hime a hasty thumbs-up and fling my towel over my shoulder.

"Are we supposed to wear bathing suits or is it gender separated?"

"I think both." He answers my question. "See ya." He walks off down the hall, closing the door behind him. Right in my face.

"Sarah, aren't you forgetting your swimsuit?" Kaito asks, as we walk out.

"You're not bringing yours." I reply.

"Well, I left mine at home."

"Same." I say. Yeah... Separated swimming it is. The only reason we're leaving our hotel room is because Captain Yuri felt Kakashi leave with his team to go downtown in the village. Probably for dinner. But if they come back, we can probably use the Transformation Jutsu and get away with it, unless we meet Kakashi. Or if Kaito meets Sasuke. No offense, Kaito. But you suck.

(Reminder: Never let Kaito read this)

When we get to the hot springs, we take our separate ways into the different bathhouses for the two sexes and I walk into the changing room. I set my towel down on the bench that's there, when...

"Put your hands in the air and do what I say! There's nobody here to protect you! Put your hands up!" A rough, male voice yells. How did I not sense him? Now that I can sense his chakra, it's very small. He's a civilian. A sharp point digs into the back of my neck. "I will kill you! But I don't have to if you don't put your hands in the air!" I put my hands in the air.

"Alright, alright." The smallest, most invisible chakra strand I can produce extends from my middle finger as my hold my hands up. I almost giggle. He can't see it. It's invisible. The strand stretches out, and I stretch my senses as far as they go. Suddenly, I feel something. Not in the room, but inside me. What is that? Natural energy? I'll have to ask Yuri. He can check with his byakugan.

The chakra rope shoots down and grabs his sword, but I don't move it.

"Give me all the money you have!" He says quietly, so no-one hears.

"Really dude?" I ask.

"I said, give me everything you have!"

"That's pretty crazy, man. Of all the people in this village to mug, you choose me? If you were in the unlucky lottery, you'd have just hit the jackpot."

"Stop talking, little girl! I will kill you! I could crush you!"

"Go ahead. Kill me. I want to die."

"I will kill you!" He almost shouts. I drop my hands to my sides, with my strand still connected to his sword point. I feel him surge his arm forward to stab his tanto into the back of my neck. I hold the tanto still. "Nnngg! What tha'! What the hell! What are you?" He tries to push the tanto into the back of my neck, but I hold it firm. "Wha?" He lets go of the tanto, and stumbles backward. The tanto seemingly floats in midair.

This is amazing. I have literally lived for this moment.

I step forward, so the tanto floats freely from my back, and turn around with what is my best creepy smile. He steps backward, away from me, but trips over the bench in the middle of the changing room and falls against the lockers. with a twitch of my index finger, the tanto zooms into my hand.

"Thanks for giving me a chance to live... but I don't think I'll return the favor."

This guy is freaking the fuck out. His chest rises and falls in panic, but he doesn't run. I giggle with glee, which only adds to the creepiness.

"You're some kinda- shinobi, aren't you? Don't- don't kill me!" He says, panicking. I feel like an actor in a horror movie.

So, in small villages, there are no shinobi. And there are no police. Pretty much all small-time perps get away with it, and shinobi are more of a legend than an actual threat. Most shinobi don't have time to go vigilante. A lot of people never actually see a shinobi in their lives. Konoha only has about 50 active shinobi, excluding ANBU and the Root, which says something about the power of shinobi compared to civilians when you consider that Konoha's population is around 505,000.

I walk towards him slowly, and he gets up and runs out of the changing room, screaming. Okay. Maybe I'm taking advantage of my abilities a little too much. But it actually feels good, i'm not gonna lie, which kinda scares me. That sounds like something a villain would say. But yeah, in the Konoha shinobi rules we aren't allowed to hurt civilians or we are out of a job. But technically, since he threatened me, I'm allowed to retaliate. So, yay for not getting fired.

Anyway, after that exiting little moment, I take off my clothes, wrap a towel around my waist, and head into the actual pool area. The hot springs are places where underground rivers rise to the surface of the earth, and are heated by geothermal activity (lava). The water is slightly silty, and muddy enough that you can't see through it. Steam rises off of the water. I close the sliding door behind me and dip my foot in. Nice and hot. There's someone in the corner of the springs, across the water. I look up to see her, and she sees me at the same time. "Sakura?"

"It's You!"

"Yeah, it's me." I fling the towel off and hop into the water. In the water there are underwater benches to sit on around the edge of the pool. I sit on one, tilting my head back on the concrete floor that surrounds the pool and closing my eyes.

"What are you doing here?!" She yells. Uh oh. They weren't supposed to know we were here.

"I'm carrying a message to someone in the Wave Country. You?"

"WHAT? You're team's going on C-Ranks too!?"

"We've already been on two."

"That's because your team doesn't have Naruto dragging you down! It's not my fault."

"Maybe so. Have you stopped hitting Naruto yet?"

"He deserves it! And I would come over there and hit you too if we weren't at the hot springs! You jerk! Sasuke and Naruto talk about you and I can't take it anymore!"

"Oh really? What do they say?"

"Like I'd tell you, fatty!"

I open my eyes and lean forward threateningly. "Whoooaa, you just crossed a line you shouldn't have crossed."

"Wha- what line? I didn't cross a line!"

"Good to know that you didn't. I was worried I would have to get up and hurt you." I relax again and close my eyes. "We saw you leave. How are you still here?"

"Oh, that was a clone." She says smugly.

"Don't tell Naruto or Sasuke we're here. It may compromise our mission, and you don't want to be to blame for that."

"I won't."

 **Question of the day:**

 **While we're on the topic of hot springs, why does Jiraya spy on the hot springs from a tree above when he could just use the Transformation Jutsu to look like a girl and then walk right in?**


	26. Chapter 26: Etho and the Bear

**Thank you pinkiceangelbaby!  
Thank you wildcat2636!  
Thank you Cathy8taffy!  
Thank you emoBUTshy!**

Tonight, we're camping out. Which I really have no problem with. We caught our own dinner, some kind of wild pig thing (Kaito said it looked like me, I punched him in the face) and Captain Yuri cooked it with some fire jutsu, it was pretty good. And then I had my extra extra food scrolls, which I dug into. Camping really is pretty fun. Right now I'm in my tent with Rei... but not Kaito. Why is Kaito not in the tent at 2AM? Because he's outside pretending to be a bear, that's why.

He doesn't even sound like a bear! He just like, walks up to the tent, shakes it, saying "Grrrrr!" and then runs away. Then he comes back, five minutes later. Because of this... stupidity, I can't sleep. And I don't even have any cookies. My desert scroll is empty. This mission has quickly become torture. Only one more night of this crap. We arrive tomorrow.

"Grrr!" Kaito shakes the tent.

"Ughhh... This is like, the fourth time..." Rei complains. "Get back in the tent and go to sleep!"

"GRRR!"

"Kaito, it's not funny anymore!" I yell, over the noise of the shaking tent. "Get back in here!" Alright. You know what? I'm actually going to go out and literally toss him into the tent. I'm done with this.

I crawl out of my sleeping bag and toss on a shirt. I unzip the tent door. "God dammit Kaito! Stop- Wha?" I find myself saying in surprise. I step out into the open clearing, and I collide with something... fluffy? "Oh, SHIT! BEAR! THERE'S ACTUALLY A- OH MY GOD!" I dodge a swipe of the bear's claws and turn around. I reach for my kunai belt. Damn. I took it off. The bear doesn't have a weapon, and I can't use Chakra Ropes on anything that has chakra, like a bear or a person. Rei comes running out of the tent.

"Sarah? Kaito? what's going- oh Shit!" Rei dives back into the yellow tent for a blade while the bear charges me. I'm not dying to wildlife. I connect my chakra ropes to a down tree trunk that's on the ground in the clearing and give it a massive pull. It shoots across the clearing, hitting the bear in the side of the head. I smile, triumphantly, as the bear... pops? Into a puff of smoke? Kaito and Captain Yuri tumble out of the smoke, each with an apparent lump on the left side of their heads.

"Ow.." Kaito nurses his new bruise.

Rei runs out of the tent, kunai in hand. "Where's the bear?"

"Defeated..." Yuri mutters, healing the side of his head with a green glow.

"It's two O-clock at night and you idiots decide to... Nevermind. I'm going to bed." I storm off towards the tent, fuming. They keep me up all night, and then they attack me while transformed as a bear? Frickin'... jerks. I climb into my sleeping bag, and Rei follows me in.

"Did you defeat the bear?" He asks.

"Yeah... Goodnight."

"Goodnight." He says. I hear the zipper of the tent open. Kaito sticks his foot in and ducks into the tent.

"Oh, no way! You'r sleeping outside tonight!" I yell, tossing his sleeping bag and pad out the tent door.

"Aww man, Sarah, please?"

"No! OUT!"

* * *

*Two Hours Later*

"Sarah, I'm scared! Let me in?" Kaito knocks on the tent door. "Can I come in now?"

"If you come into this tent, I will do things to you that you will never forget."

"Oh... But I have chocolate cake!"

"You have cake?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Rei's bleary voice comes from the other side of the tent.

"Yeah, I have two slices. For you."

"Hand them in through the vent flap."

"No."

"Give the cake to me."

"Only if you let me in the tent."

"Fine."

"YES!" He pumps his fist in the air. Thank you Captain Yuri!" He yells over the clearing. A vague, "No problem!" comes from the other tent where Yuri- Sensei is sleeping. And supplying Kaito with cake to bribe me with. You know what? I can deal with this.


	27. Chapter 27: Back from the dead

**Yes, I know, it's been a while. I've been really busy, and I have a major writer's block because I couldn't figure out what direction I want this arc to go in. If you have any story/plot ideas, or little funny things that might have happened to you that I could incorporate, pleases let me know! Other than that, sorry for making my cute little readers wait :( Hopefully I'll be on a more regular schedule soon.**

* * *

 **So, I feel like these little quotes that I do are pretty lame. And, I got the idea from someone else. Didn't I say I wouldn't do that? I'll find something else interesting to do at the beginning of each chapter instead of pulling out ye olde sharingan and copying stuff from other people's stories.**

* * *

The Wave Country is made up of several islands. A crap-ton of islands, really. The ones closest to the mainland are connected by bridges, but as you go farther out, the islands become more remote and desolate. The islands are, for the most part, forested, and covered in thick fog. Only the larger islands are free of the fog. Looking at the islands are interesting. Some are tiny, only a quarter mile in radius from the center, and some are high, towering tall above the water. One is shaped like a giant 'O', a ring of land with water in the middle. It's said that this used to be the mouth of a volcano that collapsed into the sea. Others dispute that the Wave Country was a land of peaks that was turned into a crater by the battle between the Ten Tails and the Sage of Six Paths. The islands are scattered mostly in a circle, and in the center of the islands is the largest, called Kon-udji. Or something like that. You can think of the Wave Country as the Bahamas x10. Team 7 is a few miles ahead of us. I have made the decision that they are to fight that fight alone, so I have convinced Captain Yuri to take us on a different route, so that we do not interfere with the 'bonding time'. I convinced Captain Yuri to take a different route so we could stop by a famous seafood restaurant on one of the other islands that isn't in the direct path of Team 7's route. I hate seafood. I'm also allergic to most shellfish. Thank God I brought my emergency-emergency-emergency-emergency extra-extra food storage seal.

We have to go to the main island by boat, because the Kon-udji Bridge was destroyed by Gato. Kon-udji is Gato's main domain, and it used to be the capital of the Wave's industry and commerce, but now, every island we walk through is destroyed.

"Hey, is that the main island?" Kaito asks. The thin, scruffy man who is rowing our boat nods.

The man wears a large, conical hat, and a frown as he pushes the paddle through the water, leaving swirly ripples behind. He is thin and his skin is wrinkled, even though he looks fairly young, maybe in his mid-thirties. Ahead of us, the docks emerge from the mist like fingers reaching from an invisible hand. One is warped and destroyed, and at the end, just the support posts still stand. Each dock is in it's own state of disarray.

"Now, remember, the island has been occupied by Gato for five years now. There will be thugs and low-level ninja guards, so don't give you any reason to suspect you, and..." Sensei turns to Kaito and gives him a serious look, "don't be a hero. Even if a thug is beating children, don't attack. I need to talk to Kakashi before we make any moves against Gato."

"Understood." We agree. After a moment. I realize we stopped moving.

"Ka- Kakashi?"

" The man stares at us. Panic covers his face. "Get off my boat! I don't offer my services to ninja!" He shrinks away to the back of the boat. I look to Sensei for instruction. He doesn't move. "Get off my boat!"

"Huh? Why?" Kaito asks.

"Just get out of my sight! Swim to shore, I don't care!" The man yells.

"But I can't swim!" I exclaim. It's true. I can't swim. I don't have the muscle memory from my past life. I've tried to re-learn, but it ended up badly and I just haven't put in the time to do it.

"WHAT?! You don't know how to swim?! What kinda ninja are you?!" Kaito elegantly voices his concern.

"She's so fat and heavy she'd probably sink." Rei mumbles.

"Shut up, Rei."

"I'll do whatever you want! You can have all my money, just get off my boat!"

"All your money? In that case..." Rei begins, but he falls quiet as Sensei stands up to face the fisherman.

"How much money do I pay you to get all the way to the docks?"

"I'm not taking you."

"20 Jin?"

"No."

"40 Jin."

"No."

"60 Jin."

"I said I'm not taking you!"

"150 Jin."

"H-how much money do you have?!"

"200 Jin."

"F-fine. I'll... I'll do it."

"Excellent. Thank you." Captain Yuri sits down again, facing forward. The three of us sit back down as well.

"Why don't you like ninja?" Kaito asks.

"Gato hired ninja to take over our lands. My wife was killed. All ninja are the same." The fisherman replies.

"But we aren't the same! We're Konoha ninjas! We aren't like those guys!"

"Maybe you come from a different place." The fisherman says, "But your still willing to kill people aren't you? For what? Money? Glory? You're the same thing they are. You can kill me, but that'll just make people hate you even more."

The boat goes quiet after that sentence. The docks are close, within only a few yards. The marina is silent. The only sound are ropes thumping against the masts of the sailboats that are stationed around the docks. We glide in between two long piers, but instead of going toward the docks, we stop in the middle.

I hear a splash behind me. The fisherman jumped ship. "What's going on?" Kaito asks nervously. At the same exact time, a loud, deep voice shouted, "Fire!" 'Bang! Bang!'

From the back of what I thought was a fish cart two mounted cannons fire at us. The cannonballs hurtle towards us, too fast to be seen. I hold my arms up to my face and close my eyes. 'Clang! Clang! Splash!' Mist sprays over me and the boat rocks dangerously. I uncover my eyes.

"Sensei?" I ask aloud. Yuri is standing on the water in front of the boat, sword drawn and held out in front of him with so hands. The crowd of men around the cannon cart stare in horror. What happened?

"He- he cut the cannonballs in half!" One yells.

"Who is this guy?" Another man exclaims.

"No, _what_ is he?"

"Huh." Sensei says, smirking. Wind swirls around him, flapping his cape in the wind and churning the water beneath him.

Back on the concrete shoreline, the men load another volley of cannonballs.

"One more time, men!"

"Go to hell, ninja!" 'Boom! Boom!'

Two more cannonballs shoot toward us. I notice something about the men who are attacking us. Only a few of them have weapons.

"Water Style! Breaker Wave!" Yuri slams his hand down in the water, and in front of him a huge wave rises up, easily fifteen feet. And if rumbles toward the concrete harbor and intercepts the cannonballs. One, however, flies through the giant wave, straight towards Sensei, but at a reduced speed.

"Watch out, Sensei!" I call out to him. Sensei holds his hand out in front of him, and the cannonball collides with his hand. He stopped a cannon ball. With his hand. The wave crashes against the harbor dikes and dissipates.

"I'm in a giving mood today." Sensei announces. "You can have this one back." He tosses it up high into the air, and then appears behind it. "Wind style! Volleyball Smash!" Sensei interlaces his hands and pulls them back behind his head, then brings them down hard on the cannonball. A whoosh of wind rushes by. The metal sphere shoots toward the cart like a rocket and hits it dead center. The cart explodes into matchwood and people are thrown into the air by the explosion.

The wind around us calms down and Sensei gets back into the boat. We stare.

"Well? Aren't you guys gonna row?"

"Whoa! That was so..." "Cool!" We all say at once.

"Yeah, yeah. Get to rowin', would ya?"

Rei and Kaito turn to look at me. "What? What're you guys looking at me for?"

While I row toward the docks, a commotion is happening up on the harbor. A group of about forty armed thugs run into the crowd of defenseless people, kicking them down viciously. They laugh as they beat the men unconscious, until they are lying on the ground, twitching. An armored thug holds what looks like an old-fashioned musket to a man's head. His eyes go wide. I recognize him. The fisherman!

"Enemy ninja! Turn yourself in or this man gets shot!"

"N-no! We were trying to kill them too!" The fisherman yells.

"Shut up! Those weapons belong to us!" The guard snarls, pressing the end of the gun to the side of the fisherman's head.

"I don't care, shoot me anyway! You took my house, my kids, my wife, everything! You bastards... I DON'T CARE IF I DIE!"

"Good to know you don't mind."

Boom!

The man slumps over after the fire of the musket. The thug kicks his body to the ground. The other men murmur and yell in terror. One gets up to run away, but another armored thug kicks him back to the ground.

"Fisherman! I can't take this anymore! Water style! Aqua Bullet!" Kaito makes his hand into the shape of a gun and fires. A small drop of water forms on the end of his finger. It slides down his hand and drips on the ground. "That was so... lame..."

"We need to regroup with Team 7." Sensei says.

"But I thought we ween't supposed to contact Team 7 unless there is an emergency." I argue.

"Well, I didn't know how bad the state of this island was. I would call this an emergency."

"We have to save these guys!" Kaito yells.

"We should run!" I argue. We all turn to Sensei for guidance.

"Hey! Don't tell me what to do!" He yells. From the left side of the harbor, another group of thirty armed soldiers rumble down the street towards us. Some are running across the rooftops- ninja. We are being attacked from the front and the left, and there is water behind us. How long until they get smart and we're trapped on all sides?

"Sensei, we need a plan!" I yell anxiously. Emboldened by the reinforcements the group in the front abandon their hostages and charge us with a thundering war cry.

"Oh, I know what to do!" Sensei says. Hope fills my chest. "Let's run!" Nevermind. We gape at him.

"Whaaat?"

"Just go!"

We get the message. I turn around to the right and sprint, pumping my legs full of chakra. I leave the hallway and enter a narrow street lined by houses on either side. Sensei sprints in front of me, screaming, "Follow me!" and jumps from a fruit cart to the rooftops. Wait, sensei. I have an idea. Rei and Kaito catch up to me on either side and move to run towards the fruit stall. I grab their sleeves and signal for them to keep running. I look over my shoulder. Some seventy-odd thugs chase us, but their numbers have thinned because of the short girth of the street. Tall, run-down, wooden houses gasp for air on either sides of the street. Just ahead of us, two three-story houses have fallen and are leaning against each other diagonally like a withered arch above the street. I'm starting to pull away from the thugs but three genin-level ninja are in hot pursuit. A volley of shuriken fly at us and we barely dodge. One nicks the underside of my right arm, and warm blood trickles down to my elbow. I'm too scared to care.

We sprint towards the leaning houses, and I prepare two explosive kunai. I'm bringing this thing down on the thugs behind me. Right as I enter the shadow of the houses, cast by the one o-clock sun, I hurl an explosive kunai at the base of each house. The thugs try to stop and turn around, but it's too late. I hold up my index and middle fingers together and set off a pulse of chakra that detonates the kunai. With a groan, the houses crumble on the thugs. With their screams behind us, I jump up to the rooftops, followed by my teammates. Sensei lands next to us. We stop running to see what happened to the thugs. I lean over on my knees, panting. That was far. Like, probably at least a half mile. The thugs seem to be discouraged by the attack, but they swarm over the horizontal houses like ants. We hide behind a row of chimneys. In the confusion, the thugs seem to have missed that we jumped to the rooftops. They spread out search the sidestreets. Most keep running straight.

I prepare more explosive kunai to toss into the crowd of confused thugs. Sounds mean, but not even close to how cruelly they treat the citizens of the wave country. Sensei holds out his arm to stop mine. "That's enough, you did well. You don't know the circumstances of why these thugs joined Gato's army. They were probably forced to join." I nod. Just then, hear a woman's scream from below. Then two heavy thuds. "What was that?" Rei wonders aloud.

"Dunno, go down and find out." Kaito answers.

"No, you do it."

"Hey now, we aren't arguing, are we?" Sensei mocks.

"N- No sir!" Kaito gasps. Rei's eyes widen visibly.

"Find a compromise." Sensei suggests. Both Kaito and Rei's eyes turn on me.

"What are you looking at me for?"


	28. Chapter 28: Sorry, I'm late

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"Would you like rice?" Tsuname asks. She stands beside my chair with a bowl. I nod. "Tell me when to stop." She says brightly, and she spoons two spoonfuls of rice on to my plate. She pauses for a moment, then gives me two more. She gives me an uncertain look. One more, slow spoonful.

"Okay, stop!" I announce. I don't mean to eat everything she has. I'm just hungry. She looks relieved as she moves on to Sasuke, who sits next to me on my left at the dining room table of Tazuna's house. Yes, when I investigated the screams downstairs, the screams came from Sakura, upon meeting two thugs. The thuds came from Naruto and Sasuke knocking them out. They're currently unconscious, tied up in the upstairs bedroom for now.

I don't remember much from the Team 7 V.s. Zabuza fight but I do remember that thing with the shadow windmill shuriken clone transformation thing, and that it was awesome. And that it was Naruto's idea, but Sasuke got all the credit.

Sakura got the seat to the left of Sasuke, and is now staring at Sasuke with half-lidded eyes, too spaced out to realize that Tsuname is offering her rice. Kakashi is to her left, at one end of the table, and to his left, Naruto, then Sensei, then Inari (Who is having a temper-tantrum outside), then Tsuname, and finally, Tazuna on the other end-of-the-table seat. He is sitting next to me. We had to carry Kakashi to his seat, although I am absolutely sure he is more than capable of walking to his seat himself. He keeps grumbling some 'I overused my sharingan' bullshit, which is ridiculous because he is an elite jonin and he hasn't moved all day. If he's anything like me, I'm sure he's fully healed by now. He's just a lazy bum. Like me. Anyway, said lazy bum has been avoiding eye contact with me this entire time.

"I feel like I missed something really important." Kakashi finally says. We pay attention to him. "The hunter-nin 'killed' Zabuza with senbon. They have a low death rate, and Hunter-nin know anatomy well enough to induce a fake death."

"What are you saying?" Sakura asks, worry seeping into her tone.

"That Zabuza is probably still alive. The more I talk about it, the more I'm sure." Kakashi says. The room shares a small, collective gasp.

"Even if he isn't, it's always nice to cover all our bases. Just in case he is alive. Besides, Gato might send someone else after us so we should be extra careful anyway." Sensei says.

"Well if he comes back I'll just kick his ass again!" Naruto says enthusiastically. "That mummy-face doesn't even know we have two elite jonin with us! He's in over his head."

"Well, it's not just all on us." Captain Yuri says. You should be learning from this too. Don't just hide behind us."

Ahh. That's why Kakashi allowed himself to be caught in that water prison jutsu- to provide a learning experience for his students. To pressure them. That's also probably why he pretended to be killed and let Naruto and Sasuke fight the demon brothers.

"You call almost getting killed by enemy ninja learning!?" Sakura wails.

"Sakura, you never even got close to Zabuza. You didn't do anything." Kaito says.

"Shut up!"

Kaito and Rei are eating on the floor. They were kind enough to give me the chair since I was the one who found Team 7.

"Kakashi-Sensei, aren't you gonna eat?" Naruto says. All eyes turn to Kakashi. His plate is full of untouched eggs and rice.

"Nah, I'm not hungry." He says, eye-smiling.

"Liar!"

Yuri-Sensei claps his hands together to divert attention. "Okay." He pauses. "We probably have a few days to teach the kiddos somethin' cool to smash Zabuza's face in with."

"Don't change the subject!"

"Is it gonna be a cool jutsu?!" Naruto's eyes sparkle. "How about a ramen jutsu! Maybe we could attack Zabuza with whips made of giant noodles! Or we could burn him with hot broth! Or maybe-"

"Shut up!"

"Sorry, I don't take requests." Kakashi interrupts. "I think tree climbing and water walking is long overdue. Let's do that today."

"You haven't taught your kids tree climbing yet?" Yuri-Sensei says incredulously.

"We haven't learned it either." I say.

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"How do you forget that!" A sweat-drop appears on each ninja's forehead.

"Alright, let's go!" Naruto yells as he stands up, bumping the table and knocking over his bowl. He runs out of the room, and we hear the front door slam.

"Naruto, there are still thugs looking for us out there!" Kakashi yells futilely. He's gone. Seconds later, we hear a scream from outside. Kakashi and Yuri look at each other. "You go get him." Kakashi says.

"No, you do it. You're his sensei!"

"Well, he acts just like you did. Therefore, he would understand you better."

"You're not gonna make the mistake of abandoning a friend twice, are you?" Ooh. Sick burn, Yuri-Sensei.

"Fine, I'll do it." Kakashi stands up sighs as he walks toward the front door.

* * *

Dark clouds in the sky threaten rain, but a nice coastal breeze blows through the forest of tropical-looking trees. The weather is tropical and slightly humid, but not too warm. A perfect day for falling out of trees. Earlier, Kakashi had to go rescue Naruto, who was gagged and roped when Kakashi found him. Which is pretty lame. Sakura hit him, and Sasuke smirked. Rei pretended nothing happened. I might have punched him a tiny bit. Kaito wasn't even there, because he was helping Tsuname clean up from breakfast. (I was training my mental speed, at least I have an excuse for not helping.) (Yes, that's a thing)

"Okay, since I'm stuck with you guys while Yuri is out investigating, I'm gonna go ahead and teach you guys tree climbing." Kakashi stands in front of us on crutches.

"Tree climbing? That's easy!" Naruto shouts.

"Not quite, Naruto- you're not allowed to use your hands." Kakashi corrects him. "Like this." Kakashi channels chakra to his feet until I could hear it humming, and he walks up to the tree. He puts his left foot on the tree, then his right foot. He leans back as he calmly walks up.

"Whoaa!" Naruto gasps.

"Really, Naruto? You've seen ninja do that all the time at home." Sakura scolds. Kakashi walks up the side of the tree to a branch and hangs underneath it.

"So, that's how you do it. Everyone pick a tree! Oh, and practice sending chakra to your feet before you try it."  
I push chakra to my feet. Easy. "Sakura, can you please explain the science of chakra one more time?" Kakashi asks. While Sakura launches into her explanation, I pull Naruto aside.

"Hey, Naruto. Make a shadow clone."

"Why?"

"Just do it." I say. Naruto crosses his fingers and a clone appears beside him.

"Naruto? Sarah? Are you listening?" Sakura asks.

"Yep!" I yell over my shoulder. A puff of smoke reveals a clone beside him. "Now close your eyes." Both sets close.

"Uhh... What are we doing?" The clone asks. How should I address a clone? Since the clone has the same personality and brain as Naruto, he is literally the same as Naruto, so would he take offense to being called a clone? I pull an empty sealing tag and a pencil from my pocket. I put the rectangular piece of paper on the clone's chest and write 'Bobby' On the paper.

"Okay!" I tap him on the forehead. "Naruto, keep your eyes shut. You, open your eyes." The clone opens his eyes. "Your name is Bobby from now on." I tell the clone.

"What?! What kinda name is that!?"

Sasuke snorts. "You're naming clones now? I thought you were crazy already, but seriously..." He smirks.

"Hey! Listen when I'm talking to you! Sakura screeches.

I hold up two fingers in front of Bobby. "Now, dismiss the clone." I instruct. The clone dissapears with another poof, and the name tag floats to the ground. Naruto opens his startlingly blue eyes. "How many fingers did I hold up?" I ask Naruto.

"Two!"

"That means.."

"... I get my clone's memories!" He finishes.

"Yep! I bet that applies to training too. If you make thirty clones, you can train thirty times as fast!" I say enthusiastically.

"Cool!"

"You two _idiots_ better listen while I'm talking!" Sakura yells. "Have you been listening to a single word I've been saying!?"

"Weeeelll, Sakura-chan..." Naruto trails off, massaging the back of his head.

"Sorry, I wasn't listening. Can you start over, please?" I ask innocently. Kaito and Rei snort, hiding their laughter.

" _Sarah_... SOOO AANOYING!" _Shut up, little bitch._

I shrug and pick a tree to climb. Channeling chakra to my feet, I place my left foot on the tree. An explosion blows me backwards, showering me with splinters. There's a crater in the tree.

 _Whoops._


	29. Chapter 29: Sailing

**Hello once again**

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Living with ten people in a tiny house is hard.

Finally, Sensei agreed to let us find somewhere else to sleep this morning when Sasuke walked in on him while he was in the shower. Between guarding the bridge, shopping, and training, we're barely inside the house anyway, but I think Tazuna's about ready to kick us out. Among other things, I keep panicking because the familiar feeling of my phone in my pocket is gone. Since I no longer have a phone. All the comforts of modern life are gone. At least there is electricity in most buildings in Konoha, but not only is electricity ten times more expensive than the last world, so is appliances. If you have an electric refrigerator and a oven, you're rich.

I've started making a mental list of everything I miss from my old world. Honestly, it's just making me more depressed, especially music. Music isn't a thing here. I really need to do something about that.

"Uggh... I can't move..." I groan, slouching in a booth of one of the remaining bars that haven't been pillaged yet.

"You pig! These people are starving and you just ate half the remaining food on the island!" Sakura scolds.

"It feels like I did." I reply. Sasuke sat in the booth first, and then Sakura wanted to sit with Sasuke, and then Naruto wanted to sit next to Sakura, then I wanted to sit next to Naruto. Naruto's super naive and innocent. Every time he sees someone begging in the streets he yells something about killing Gato. Apparently, he knows nothing about economics and doesn't know that screaming 'I'm gonna kick his ass!' Isn't helping anyone.

Today is overcast, but the wind is still. It feels like the world is holding its breath.

Two hours later and I'm back at the bridge with Naruto. We sit on the side railings of the bridge, dangling our feet over the turbulent waters fifty or so feet below. It's easy to forget that for shinobi, water is just as good to fight on as land. For the enemy. Not for us. I munch on a rice ball. Naruto and I sit in a comfortable silence, sharing my food and staring at the waves. Okay, maybe we're not doing such a good job guarding.

"Oops." Naruto's rice ball slips between his fingers and falls toward the waves. I point at it. A blue string connects my index finger to the food and with a twitch of my finger I fling it back up into the air. It hangs above my head for a millisecond before it starts to fall again. It doesn't fall far. I reach out with my chopsticks and toss it into my mouth.

"Hey! That was mine!" He wails.

I swallow. "Too bad."

"I already took a bite out of it!" He whimpers. I almost choke, but then again, we're practically family.

"Oops." I shrug him off.

"I'm full anyway." He declares. With a swift movement, he launches himself into the air and lands on his feet, his shinobi boots clanging against the metal railing. The cool ocean breeze tosses his hair. Somehow, his hair resists curliness. Mine is already in knots. I guess it doesn't matter, anyway. The only boys my age that I know well are Sensei and dad. My face scrunches up in disgust at the thought. Me and Choza. Never, never, never, never, never...

"Why are you so nice to me?" He asks. His eyes are cast out into the ocean.

"Are you questioning my motives?"

"No, it's just that... you seem to want to be around me."

"Well, I know you act silly just to get attention. If I give you attention and be your friend, you don't act like an idiot anymore. It's alot easier to be your friend when you're not tripping over your own feet, ya'know? Other people like Sasuke are too shallow to see through your facade."

"So I should try to be more serious?" He asks.

"No, be yourself- the crazy side of you weeds out all the people who don't really want to be your friend, I guess. Everyone acts a certain way like that. We all have our little mask we put up. It's a defense mechanism."

"Yeah..." He agrees. The clouds darken again visibly. It's interesting to see that if you look to the very horizon of the sky, you can see sunlight again. It's amazing that you can see so far when you're near the ocean. If it weren't for the clanging of hammers and the occasional yells of construction, we might be able to hear the thunder, a hundred miles away. Every time a wave passes through the supports on the bridge, it makes a hollow grating sound. It's pleasant. I sigh. A seagull cries above us and lands on one of the posts that will hold lanterns for nighttime construction.

"Hey, Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

I point just past the edge of the bridge. "Isn't that boat getting a little close to the end of the bridge?"

Naruto looks to where I point. The very top of a small sailing ship's mast pokes above the end of the half-completed bridge. A small triangle of white cloth sail shows to either side.

"Maybe they're just civilians who didn't see the construction warning signs." He suggests.

"Let's go check it out." I swing my feet back over the railing and hop down.

"Whoa- WHOA!" Naruto yelps, as he falls backward off the railing and faceplants on the stone surface of the bridge. "Owwww." He rubs the side of his face. "Hey! Sarah-chan! Wait for me!"

"Nope." I quicken my pace to a slow jog as I run to meet with the end of the bridge. Naruto catches up with me as I stop to look down at the small vessel. The craft has a covered cabin portion, but otherwise I can't tell if anyone is on the boat. "Make ten shadow clones." I instruct. Naruto makes the handsign and ten appear in a neat row. I make two shadow clones of my own and jump down to the deck of the boat. Naruto's and my impact on the deck make a loud, hollow noise that vibrates through the boat. So much for sneakiness. I raise three fingers to Naruto. 'One, two three,' I sign, and on three we stop our feet on the cabin roof, punching a hole in it. We both drop down.

"Whaaat!?" Naruto yells. "Nobody's here!? Then who drove the boat?" As this information processed, I feel one of my clones puff out of existence. The memories come to me slowly, slipping into my brain as the chakra returns to me. It was a trick. I allowed the lives of the workers to be in danger. "Three guys. All armed. The boat was a trick." My heart flutters and my hands go cold. The blood drains from my cheeks. I still get nervous before a fight.

"What are you waiting for!?" Naruto yells at me. "Let's go kick their asses already!"

"Alright." I agree, hardening my resolve. The two of us jump straight up out of the sailboat onto the end of the bridge. Three shinobi sprint toward the workers, one with a ball and chain, one with a katana, and one with trench knives. Naruto starts to summon clones but I hold up my hand to stop him. There's a metal beam lying beside me that looks just about the same width of the bridge... Three blue strings erupt from my fingers and connect with the I-beam. It floats up into the air- ohhgoditsheavy- and I twist my finger and it turns so it fits just between the railings. I push my hand forward and the beam rockets toward the attackers at lightning speed. All three jump into the air to avoid the beam. I smile. Checkmate. Now that the attackers are in the air and away from the bridge, I can feel free to use bombs. I brandish three pre-prepared explosive kunai, I toss one at each airborne ninja. They throw their own kunai to block mine, but I push theirs off their trajectories with chakra ropes. I hold my index and middle fingers up to my face.

"Huh!" I grunt as I let out a wave of chakra.

There is a huge explosion and a cloud of smoke in the air, and black, charred powder falls onto the bridge. The workers cheer. The ninja were completely incinerated.

"Woah! That was awesome, Sarah-chan!"

"That," I say, "Is planning."

The workers stop for a moment to thank us, and then return to their work.

I just actually killed someone. For the first time. My first kill. They're dead. I kinda can't believe it. Now that I think about it, I could have thrown kunai with ninja wire to wrap them up in the air and then tied Themis after they fell back to the deck. But my first inclination was to kill them. Because it was easier.

According to the Hatake Clan contract, I'm authorized to wear a black facemask now.

"I killed them." I say. Naruto helps me over to the railing and we sit there for a moment.

"I've already sent off a clone to get Kakashi-Sensei just in case we couldn't beat them. He'll know what to do." Naruto says.

"What?" I say, surprised. That's totally against his nature. To plan for failure? Even I didn't think of that.

'That's pretty lame, Sarah.' A voice in the back of my head agrees.

Back in the real world, Tazuna stands in front of me. "Thank you." He says. "You saved the lives of my workers. I think I can now say that- you've earned my respect." I force a smile and shake his hand.

Naruto smiles widely and shakes his hand vigorously, rubbing the back of his head. "Hey, it's not a problem!"

"Yes, thank you. I'm glad nobody got hurt." Tazuna agrees.

Those three ninja...

I hope they didn't have families.


	30. Chapter 30:Attack of the Killer Me

"You're getting so much stronger. You're miles away from everyone else. You protected the bridge and the clients. Honestly, I didn't expect the enemy to attack with us here, which is the only reason I was willing to assign you kids to protect the clients. They must have been some utterly gutsy shinobi." Kakashi chuckles a bit to himself.

The grey and weathered wooden planks that make up the dock's surface feel cool and rough under my thighs. The ocean, still cold from winter, sends spray up onto my bare feet. Kakashi and I swing our legs just above the water's surface, and if I bend my ankle downward my big toe would just barely touch the water. We're on the land-facing side of the island, behind Tazuna's house, where there is a small dock that juts out into the calm water. A soft wind ripples waves underneath us, which make a soft clapping sound when they hit the shore behind us. The dock has two support posts on either side, on the end, and one holds a lantern, which illuminates the night. It's not really necesary, though. The almost-full moon covers everything with a soft white glow.

"I'm sorry. That I haven't been there for you." Kakashi says slowly.

"You're not obligated to be. You're not my dad. We are only family in the loosest of terms." I reply, even though I feel the opposite way.

"Family should stick together, no matter what. But I can't be there for you from now on, either." He looks down at his feet. Waves lap over his upper calfs, causing water to spray up, a fine mist.

"You're afraid that I'm going to die, just like everyone else." I say. He nods. "If you really want to help me, then don't shun me from your life. Instead of helping me, you're hurting me."

"I'd rather you be angry at me than dead under a pile of rocks." He clears his throat. "So, you killed three people today. That doesn't make you a bad person, really. You saved the lives of thirty people by ending the lives of three bad people. The hardest part of being a shinobi is making those difficult choices that usually end up with someone dying as a consequence. Once those ninja signed up to be shinobi, and once they decided to take money from Gato and take you on, thy forfeited their lives."

"But they were real, human lives." I argue. The guilt I feel is terrible. At least I didn't have to see their bodies, and their deaths were swift. "They deserved a second chance."

"It's good that you feel guilty. Please, always feel guilty after making the decision to end someone's life. It means you're still human. Did you enjoy killing them?" He asks.

"No." I answer.

"Then you're a good person." He says, eye-smiling. Kakashi leans back on his hands and looks up at the moon. "I haven't done this in a very, very long time." Kakashi lifts his hand to his face and takes a deep breath. "Since we're clansmen... I'm going to show you my face, okay?" He asks tentatively. After a moment's pause, he turns to me and hooks a finger over the fabric of his mask, pulling it down past his chin. My heart skips a beat. Many, many beats. He's beautiful. Far more than beautiful. Like a male angel on Earth, a perfect creation of God. Perfect symmetry, his face just the right size and shape, with a perfect jawline- I've never seen a human that handsome. Jesus christ.

Kakashi allows me to stare for a moment, and then he places the mask back onto his nose. "Your eyes turned into little pink hearts." He informs me.

"What?" I rub my eyes. They don't feel like pink hearts. "Still there?"

A sweat-drop appears on his forehead. "Yep."

* * *

This morning, I got up early. Yes, you heard me correctly- got up early. If Choji was here, we would have a party on the spot. ANyway, I'm up early this morning to make everyone pancakes. Which nobody in this house has actually ever had before, so this might get interesting. With the help of chakra strings, twelve eggs crack themselves and jump into the bowl while the flour pours itself into the mixing bowl. A wooden spoon flies out of the cabinet behind me and into my right hand. I stir the mixture while six cups of water and one vanilla bean adds itself to the bowl almost done with the prepwork- A carton of milk vacates the refridgerator and runs screaming into my left hand. I think I spilled some. I open the carton and take a swig to see if it's expired. I gag. that was heavy cream, not milk. Actually, it tasted kinda nice. See, this is what happens when you try to do too many things at once. I take another drink from the heavy cream and put it back in the fridge, which is really just a metal cooler with ice in it, powered by a freezing seal that Sensei put on there when we arrived. I stir the solution with the wooden spoon vigorously.

I like cooking this way, because it only allows me to focus on one thing. My thoughts can't wander. I carry the bowl over to three frying pans I have set up on the stove and butter them. The pancake batter sizzles and pops when it falls onto the skillets in little round pools, which quickly rise to become cakes. A twitch of my middle and ring fingers toss them onto a plate. _Suck it, hot objects. I no longer have to burn myself on you._ When I have made forty pancakes or so, I move them to the table along with butter. What should I put ontop to replace maple syrup? I hunt around in the upper cabinets above the counter. A bottle of brown liquid, some peanut oil, vanilla extract, some spices, and a few sour, sweet, and salty sauces in jars, along with soy sauce and mustard. I choose the brown liquid and sniff it. Smells sweet. I raise the bottle to my lips to take a small sip.

"What are you doing?" A voice comes from behind me. I spit out the substance in surprise.

"Wha?" I gasp, guiltily wiping my mouth as I turn around to face a little kid. Oh. Him. Inari. The wuss. "Yeah, what do you want?"

"I get that you might feel guilty about what happened yesterday, but you can't just go around drinking random stuff from our kitchen." He says. He walks from the bottom of the stairs into the kitchen. "So, you killed someone, yesterday. Three people, actually. Do you think you're a hero now? For saving all those bridge builders?"

"What's it to you?" I address the brat who stands in front of me. I draw myself up to my full hight.

"What if those men you killed were someone else's hero? Heroes don't exist, like I said- to one person, someone is a savior, but to someone else, a monster." Inari turns to walk away toward the front door.

"Shut up!" I say to him. "You may have a point that there is no such thing as good. But the difference between three lives and thirty, including my client, is enough for me to be sure of my choice! Now stop acting like a little brat just because your poor daddy died and stop vilifying me! What do you think happened to my parents?" I hate that kid. The door slams, and Inari is out. I'm glad. I don't want him around.

 _You're a monster. Shut up!_

I take a moment to regain my confidence, and then decide that the brown liquid is good enough for the pancakes. I place it in the dining room, and set the table correctly.

 _I don't need some five year old kid shattering my resolve. I'm almost twenty seven now. Or twenty six?_

 _They were humans, just like you. They deserved a second chance._

What'll happen today?


	31. Chapter 31: Shark Bait Hoohaha

I excused myself from breakfast early today and went outside to train. Only one more day until our week of prep time is over. Naruto and Sasuke weren't at breakfast. Kakashi didn't even look at me. It's raining today. I grab a black coat and toss it over the white hoodie I'm wearing today, and I head out to do some training. In the forest, the cold, drizzling rain isn't so bad because the trees offer some shelter from the rain. Suddenly, I hear a shout come from the woods, seemingly just over the hill in front of me. I sprint over it. _What's going on?_ I look down at the ravine in-between two hills. There's nobody there. "NARUTOOO!" I shout. "SASUKEEE!" No response. A glint of black shoots at me, and I turn to dodge just in time. Stuck in the tree behind me is a kunai. Crap. Naruto and Sasuke are in trouble! I hear another yell, but this time it sounds like it's coming from... above? I look up. Naruto is standing on a tree branch, panting. His nose is bleeding a little, and he's covered with dirt. "Naruto? What's going on?" He doesn't answer. My blue ropes loop around the branch next to him, and with a yank on my end, I fly up to the branch. "Naruto!" Naruto looks like he's gonna collapse, but he still stands with just willpower alone. His eyes are completely fixated in front of him. I look where he's looking. Sasuke. Sasuke kneels on an opposing branch, ready to collapse as well. There's a huge welt on the right side of his face that looks like it was inflicted by Naruto's street brawler taijutsu style. Naruto has small bruises on his arms, but they're fading fast. "What are you doing!" I yell. "Fighting." Naruto gasps. No. No, no no. Not already.

"Stop!" Something tells me they aren't going to stop. Just then, Sasuke leaps from the branch. Naruto does the same, yelling a war cry as they both point deadly kunai at each other. I jump in the air as well, off to the side so I'm not between them, and my chakra strings wrap around both of their wrists. Normally I can't attach chakra strings to people normally, but since their chakras are too tired to resist, I can. I pull up on the chakra strings, then shoot them down. Naruto and Sasuke flail through the air as they shoot toward the ground, while I attach a chakra string to the branch above me and hang out.

The two ninja hit the ground with extraordinary force, forming craters around their bodies. Sasuke spits out blood. Naruto makes a pained face, but neither one of them can move. Woah. That was amazing. Not just that I stopped them from killing each other, but also the strength of my chakra strings just then. They really flew. Iv'e never seen anything like that. Even if I whip a kunai behind my and then throw it forwards like one of Luffy's Gum-Gum Pistols from One Piece, I still can't achieve speeds or force much better that a good throw. That... was something else. It's good to see that I'm improving. I lengthen the chakra string that's holding me up to lower myself to the ground. "You idiots." I hope I didn't kill them. I check their pulse. Yep- still alive. Just unconscious.

* * *

After that little incident, and after the morons were thoroughly interrogated, (Apparently they were just sparring, but they were sparring to the death) I excused myself from the house yet again. It stopped raining and the sun came out so this time I left to go swimming. Well, hopefully not swimming. Hopefully just walking on water, but I'm wearing a bathing suit anyway. I stopped by a gift-shop looking place to see if there was any sunglasses I could find, and some guy pretty much groped my butt. I punched him so hard he lost three teeth. I hope he learned his lesson. I guess there's a reason why I should wear my headband. Down at the docks, I take a moment to smell the salty air, and then I lay my towel down on the small beach. Walking over to the water, I dip my toes in. Not too cold. Not warm, either. Not the best day for a swim. I guess I better not fall in.

"Hey!" I hear a voice behind me. A teenage boy holding a crate of fish addresses me. He has a blue headband on his forehead, and a brown tunic. "You're not gonna swim in there, are you?" He shouts.

"Hopefully not!" I yell back. "I'm a shinobi! I'm gonna try to walk on water!"

"A shinobi, huh? Can shinobi really walk on water? well, I've heard stranger stories about them I guess." He laughs. "Well, have a good time! And don't fall in! There'r sharks in there!"

"Whaat? Seriously?"

"Yep!" He laughs. "Good luck!" The man walks away with his crate, smiling. At least one person here is happy. Was he serious about the shark thing? No way, he was trying to prank me... right? Oh well, I'm not taking any chances. I put a kunai protector onto one of my kunai so I don't cut myself and slide it into the waistband of the bottom part of my two-piece swimsuit. Welp. Here goes. I channel chakra to my feet and put my right foot on the water. I slowly shift my weight onto the foot. It's holding, but slipping a little into the water. I apply more chakra. Suddenly the water foams and I'm almost knocked over. Too much chakra. This time I make two shadow clones and try again. This time I make it two steps out on the water's surface, but I lose concentration from exitement and fall into waist-deep freezing water with a high-pitched scream. Wow, that gets deep quick. _What is that moving shadow over there?_

* * *

 _"Well,"_ Says Sensei, "At least the shark bite wasn't deep. It should be healed by tomorrow, but just to be safe, I'm takingyour shift guarding the bridge tomorrow."

" _Whaaat?"_ What If Zabuza and Haku attack tomorrow!? "You can't do that!" I protest.

"Sorry. We can't risk it. We've been letting you guys get away with too much. Naruto met some woman in the woods while he was picking herbs for your shark bite. Good thing it wasn't Zabuza or his partner, or he could've been killed."

 _Oh yeah. I forgot about that._ I take a comforting bite of cake. _"_ Mhrm."

"You're not taking me seriously, are you?"

"Look, Sensei, I'll be fine. I can't just not help you guys if Zabuza comes for us tomorrow."

"Zabuza's already an A-Rank ninja, and we don't know anything about his partner. We don't need you dragging us down." Sensei gets up to leave the bedroom.

Well then. "His partner uses ice style." I warn "Be careful."

"How do you know that?" He gives my a scanning look. I shrug. _Ow. That hurt._ "Kids these days." Sensei sighs as he walks out of the room. Just then, I see Rei walk by the doorway.

"Rei!" I yell. "Bring me something to eat!"

"No!"

"I'm injured! Aren't guys supposed to be noble and help a girl in need?" I say jokingly.

He looks me dead in the eye. "That's sexist."

 _Well then. "_ Just get Kaito to do it then. Ask him to get me some chocolate ice cream real quick."

"Not vanilla?"

"You know I don't like vanilla."

"That's racist." Rei walks away down the upstairs hallway with the basket of clothes he was carrying. "Kaito!" He yells down the stairs.

"Whaaat!?"

"Get up here with some vanilla ice cream, captain's orders!"

"Did she finally have a change of heart about her disgusting preferences in ice cream flavors?"

"Don't care!"

"Me neither!"

Thirty minutes later, the appropriate tub of ice cream and a metal spoon is delivered to my room. "Where's Naruto and Sasuke?"

"They went out with Kakashi-san a while ago. Something about takeout and game night."

This should be fun. "What are we playing?"

"Actually, we were gonna let you teach us how to play that 'Uno' game you said you were gonna teach us how to play. I have an old set of cards that I don't mind you marking up."

"Cool."

Inwardly, I smile evily. Let the hatred commence.

I hope nobody pulls a draw four on Sasuke. He might leave Konoha early this time. Who will be the first to die?

* * *

"Hurry up! We're not gonna wait!" Naruto yells up the stairs.

"All right, give us a minute, she's heavy." Sensei picks me up off the bed bridal style and carries me the stairs.

"Shut up." I say. "You guys think you're sooo funny." I roll my eyes. Sensei lifts me down the stairs and then places me at my seat at the table. "You know I'm not that injured, ya'know?"

"Injured enough that you shouldn't be moving your legs."

"This is ridiculous."

"Sarah-chan, did you really get bitten by a shark?" Naruto asks.

"Yep."

"Awesome!"

"Are you kidding me Sarah? Getting attacked by the wildlife? That's the lamest thing I've ever heard." Rei scolds.

"It was a freaking shark, that's so cool! When we get back, nobody's gonna believe she actually got bitten by a shark!" Kaito says.

"We've been attacked by a bear on this trip too, haven't we?" I joke.

"Alright, alright, let's eat already!" Naruto yells.

"Here's the food!" Kakashi eye-smiles as he passes plates and bowls of warm food onto the table. "Eat up!" Naruto and Sasuke suddenly grab a bowl and slurp it down at lightning speed.

"More please!" They both shout simultaneously. Naruto and Sasuke glare at each other, then eat another bowl of soup. And another. And another. And another. "Must... Keep... Eating..." They both gasp, leaning on the table, almost to the point of vomiting from overeating. Both take another slow bite of soup... then another, slow bite... Sasuke's spoon drops out of his hand. Naruto perseveres through the pain of being privileged and wealthy enough to be able to overeat and takes one final bite.

"I'm done." Sasuke gasps.

"YES! I DID IT! I WON!" Naruto pumps his fists in the air and jumps up. Then he turns an ominous shade of green. "I don't feel good." At the sight of Naruto vomiting, Sasuke begins to vomit as well.

"This is why we can't have nice things." Sensei interjects over the sounds of gagging and sputtering. "I'm so sorry, Tsuname, I'll take care of this for you."

Tsuname gives him a concerned look. "Oh. Thank you...?"

When we're finished eating, I pull out the 'Uno' cards. I've been waiting for this for a long time.


	32. Chapter 32: Seventeen Years Ago

Pronounced KaKa mo, similarly to KaKa shi.

Kakashi is 6 years old.

Kokusai= international currency.

Dai= Gai's canon father.

* * *

August 15

Sakamo Hatake lifts the black window blinds and peers out the second-story window of his home. Two shinobi guards patrol the streets. Just down the beige pavement, in between abandoned shops and houses, he can see strands of yellow caution tape billowing around like lost scarves around the entrance to the Hatake clan compound.

 _"Quarantined area. No admittance."_

The black words are clear to Sakumo's eyes across the dancing yellow. The Hatake Clan head family successfully survived the first few weeks with the extra water and rations stored up by Sakumo in the upstairs closet. That particular morning, those precious supplies had run out, leaving a young, six-year-old Kakashi hungry for lunch. The Hatake family was fresh out of lunch.

First and foremost, Sakumo Hatake was a family man.

Different families within clans maintain different prefixes to mark which family they belong to. These prefixes are passed to the next generation, such as Shikaku and Shikamaru. The last name discerns which clan a person belongs to. Kakamo changed the first phrase of his name to 'Saku' in honor of the death of his late wife. The poor young woman succumbed to death within the first week and a half. Sakumi Hatake's body was never recovered.

Sakumo had to do something. Obviously, there was no hope for the Hatakes. But there was hope for Kakashi.

* * *

Two weeks before the first outbreak, July 21

Status of Kakashi Hatake (child): Alive

Status of Kakamo Hatake (father): Alive

Status of Sakumi Hatake (mother): Alive

It was July twenty-first, a swelteringly hot day in Konoha when things began to go wrong. Kakamo held Kakashi's hand as they walked the beige sidewalks toward a nearby park where Hatake children tended to gather around a popsicle stand on these long summer days. It was hot enough that men and children wore shorts. Civilian women wore high dresses that ended abruptly just above the knee, while shinobi women opted for attire more similar to the men. This allowed for more maneuverability, in the event that something terrible happened.

Something terrible did happen. Something so terrible, that only two people survived.

The Hatake clan, similarly to all other major Konoha clans, based itself around core ideas. For the Naras it was intelligence. For the Akimichi, kindness, and food. For the Uchiha, pride and always giving everything your best effort. The Hatake valued intimacy, but more importantly, trust. The Hatake clan was it's own little society. Everyone knew everyone else, and almost everyone tried to be as trustworthy as they two Hatakes made their way through the slim, hard-cut, imposing faces of the other Hatake members, who each, in turn, gave a wave or a greeting to Kakashi and his father. Kakamo was the pride of the Hatake clan. His chakra was so overwhelmingly strong that it was said he could take on multiple S-level ninja at once with out breaking a sweat. Some even dare to say that he could defeat the Legendary Sannin on his own, but that was porbably quite a stretch.

However, one thing was for sure- Kakamo's chakra manipulation skills rivaled the toughest shinobi in existence. Even that upstart genius Namikaze couldn't beat him. Kakamo struck an important position in Konoha. Most agreed he was on the fast track to becoming Fourth Hokage. It's startling to think that the man unable to be defeated would be defeated by himself in only two short years.

But for now, things in the Hatake clan were going well. Soon, it would change, but for now, Kakamo Hatake was smiling as he lead Kakashi to the familiar ice-cream cart. Purple banners protruded from a white awning that provided shade for young Hatake woman of about sixteen. A civilian.

"Good morning, Kani-chan!" Kakamo greets the girl. She smiles and tilts her head.

"What would you like, Kaka-San?" She offers, although she already knows. Her hand dips into the freezer and retrieves two red popsicles. One for Kakashi, one for Kakamo. Kakamo flips a silver coin onto the white cart. Kani opens a drawer with change. "That'll be… um…" She takes a moment to do mental math.

"Twenty-three and a quarter Kokusai." Kakashi interrupts. His voice is too deep and mature for his age. To the point where it's almost disturbing.

"Oh! Right!" She fumbles with the change while her long, white-blonde hair falls in front of her reddening face as she picks up the coins.

"It's alright, keep the change." Kakamo spares Kani-chan the embarrassment. The father-and-son pair make their way over to the wooden playground. Three opposing wooden forts stand leisurely in a circle of mulch. Each is painted a different, bright, cheerful color. Atop of each is a flag, beige, with the black Hatake symbol proudly in the middle. Flat, wooden life-size models of unmarked ninja stand next to each base. Other children, Kakashi's age, give or take, pretend to conquer each other's forts with made-up jutsu. They play a game in which players of one team attempt to slap the opposing team's hands. If both of your hands are slapped, you are out.

 _Improving reaction time._ Kakashi mentally notes as he surveys the children playing the popular game. He and his father sit on a nearby boulder. Kakamo pulls his knee up to his chest in a relaxed position. "Not going to join in with the kids today?" He asks.

"Maybe another day." Kakashi chews the end of his raspberry-flavored popsicle thoughtfully. The playing children don't interest him.

"You say that every day." Kakamo observes. "You don't have to be a shinobi. You could own a popsicle cart and marry Kani-chan when you're old enough if you want to."

"I'm not interested in girls like her." Kakashi says. Kakamo internally cursed his son's luck. Other boys his age were just starting the academy and learning how to read while Kakashi had already experienced puberty, and had experienced it in a more distinguished and elegant manner than anyone else Kakamo could think of. Kakamo wished his son could have had a childhood like everyone else. Instead, the older teenagers and adults looked down on him for his age and size, while Kakashi could not align with the immaturity and cluelessness of the other children his age. Any friendships Kakashi dared to form were quickly lost. Other boys and girls dismissed him as weird when Kakashi wanted to converse on international politics or science, or literature, or his favorite movies that were too scary for the little ones. The children never gave it a second thought. Kakashi felt bitterly lonely at times, and the solitude might have slowly driven him insane if it weren't for his father. Kakamo was the the only person who could understand Kakashi's unique mind. Kakamo's childhood was similar to Kakashi's, maybe worse. Although Kakamo wasn't as frightfully sharp as Kakashi, his special white chakra kekkei genkai accelerated him into the upper circles of society.

Soon, Kakashi was nibbling on a wooden popsicle stick. A few yards away, the other children pretended the wooden ninja cutouts were enemy ninja attacking the forts. They hurl blunted wooden shuriken at the targets. Most whirl to the side, completely missing. The children let out shouts and cheers when a cutout is struck. Kakashi stands up, and, with a slight hand motion, launches his popsicle stick at the wooden cutout. The popsicle stick flies through the forehead of the 1/2 inch plywood and imbeds itself in the bright green fort. The children gawk with interest and fear, like city pigeons that spy an abandoned soft pretzel on the sidewalk.

"Time to go?" Kakamo interprets. Kakashi nods. With a sigh, Kakamo shoots his own popsicle stick through the hole Kakashi's stick made in the wooden cutout. The second stick imbeds itself into the first, splintering the first into dust. The second stick is the only one remaining on the green fort.

"I have a lot to learn, father," Kakashi says proudly. "I wish I could be like you."

Kakamo wishes that this sentence could be used in the manner that most children mean when they utter this statement to their father. However, there is a different meaning behind Kakashi's statement.

 _I wish I could have inherited the white chakra from you, father. Why must I be a failure?_

"Don't worry about it!" Kakamo insists. "Just like that man Dai always says- believe in your talents. Train them and you won't need fancy kekkei genkai. You're very far ahead of everyone else, and if there weren't age requirements, I have no doubt you would be high benin by now, at least."

Kakashi smiles for the first time that day. "He's a funny man, that Dai."

"That he is."


	33. Chapter 33: Kakamo Saves the Day (Again)

The blaring of a siren interrupts the Hatake family's dinner. Kakamo pauses, his glass raised to his lips. He clears his throat and sets his tea on a small saucer.

"What's going on, hun?" Sakumi asks concernedly.

"I don't know, but I'm gonna go put a stop to it, whatever it is." Kakamo stands up and holds his arms out to his sides. A vest and kunai pouch float across the room, as if they have a mind of their own. They clip themselves onto Kakamo's person securely.

"Where are you going, father?" Kakashi wonders.

"It won't be long." Kakamo says. He secures his chakra sabre onto his right shoulder. "No-one interrupts Hatake Family Time and lives to tell the tale." Kakamo crouches in the windowsill. "I'll be back before the food gets cold!" He shouts, and he jumps from the fifth story window down to the streets.

"Konoha sure is lucky to have a man like your father." Sakumi says.

Kakamo surveys the city from the top of a water tower. The conflict is immediately obvious- just outside the north wall gate of the city there is a second sun on Earth, burning so bright that it is painful to look at. Kakamo focuses his eyes. The fireball seems to take the shape of a human. Around it are what appear to be a few dozen sand shinobi, fighting against Konoha forces.

Would the sand really fight Konoha head-on? There's no way. They must be extraordinarily stupid, or extraordinarily confident. The human fireball releases a wave of light, so bright that Kakamo is blinded for an instant. Everyone in the immediate vicinity of the flash explosion falls down, holding their eyes and screaming in pain. The flash of light rampages through their retinas. Blinded.

Kakamo leaps back to his own home. "You're back already!" Sakumi exclaims. "Did you show the attackers our Hatake hospitality?"

"Not yet." Kakamo walks over to his desk, and rummages in his old junk drawer that he never really got around to cleaning out. His hand retrieves a pair of sunglasses. With the necessary eye protection, Kakamo leaps out of the window once more toward the battle.

* * *

From the top of the north gate, Kakamo surveys his audience with calm interest. Twenty-six shinobi. And the flaming man. That is a kekkei genkai Kakamo has never seen before. The famous Hatake begins to work his magic. white chakra enters the air in invisible wisps. With a twitch of Kakamo's middle finger, the invisible yet strong chakra splits into small, almost gaseous forms and each one flies toward each of the sand shinobi. The blobs of floating chakra form rings around each of the twenty-six shinobi's necks. The Suna-nin continue to fight their Konoha counterparts, unaware that their lives were in Kakamo's hands. Kakamo holds out his right hand, and then squeezes it into a fist. The invisible chakra collars follows suit, constricting, crushing each shinobi's necks all at once.

White Chakra allows the user to enter their chakra into any object, including air. Once the chakra has permeated the object, the user can control the object at will. It is a truly terrifying power, but it is just as strong as it is rare. Just like normal chakra, white chakra is invisible in small, weak amounts, but becomes increasingly solid and strong in large, concentrated quantities. By filling up spaces of air with white chakra, Kakamo can also create flat, two-dimensional barriers of any shape he desires. Now, white chakra shimmers into existence below Kakamo, creating a flight of stairs. Kakamo calmly walks down, as if he was at a house party rather than a battlefield. "Who are you?" Kakamo asks the burning man as he adjusts his shades.

"The White Fang of Konoha. What an honor. That matter-controlling trick you do is pretty cool, but I don't like cool." The flaming man (Who I will refer to as Immolation Man for convenience) douses his flames, revealing a tall, red-haired man in a maroon and brown outfit.

"Skip the chat, okay? I have to go finish dinner with my family." Kakamo says, slouching casually, with his hands in his pockets.

"Oh, so you have a family too? I have one in Suna. A little boy named Sasori."

"Well, you shouldn't have attacked us, then." Kakamo frowns. "Little Sasori is going to be sad when his father doesn't come home."

"We'll see about that." Immolation man's hands alight with flames, and he shoots a jet of flames toward Kakamo. With a lazy flick of his hand, a shimmering white barrier appears in front of Kakamo. The fire passes around and over it, leaving massive scorch marks on the city wall behind. Hidden by the burst of fire, Kakamo places his hands on the ground and channels white chakra into two barriers below the surface of the Earth. Exhausted, the fire ends it's tirade. The shimmering barrier shoots forward toward Immolation Man. The flaming ninja flips over the barrier. Kakamo takes advantage of this moment to fire a hail of water chakra-infused kunai, but a blast of fire incinerates them, metal and all. Two fireballs shoot at Kakamo. A second white barrier is raised without a moment to spare. This barrier is noticeably thicker. The fire is repelled by the barrier a second time, even though this attack was much stronger, leaving a crater in front of the barrier.

Kakamo leaps forward, wielding the white chakra sabre. He quickly decides on a classic attack- the old false reach trick. Kakamo swipes at the enemy, while surrounding the sword in a sharp barrier of chakra. Immolation Man dodges swiftly, and is quick to form his own sword out of fire. Both swords clash. Kakamo swings the sword again, but this time much quicker, in a way that the enemy is just barely quick enough to dodge. Again, Kakamo brings down another incredibly fast blow, but this time, slow enough for Immolation Man to dodge. Immolation Man jumps to the side just barely enough to avoid being cut by the sword. Checkmate. The barrier around the sword extends, transforming the blade from a two foot tanto to a six foot longsword. The sword cuts the enemy clean in half. Kakamo jumps backward behind the safety of his second barrier. Flames shoot out in an plume of fire, that recollects itself into the shape of a man, rendering the attack useless. The flaming man had literally transformed himself into fire. Kakamo and the other shinobi spectators watch in awe as the fire reassembles back to the original enemy. Kakamo analyses his strategy. If this enemy is imperious to physical attacks in his transformed state, the best way to defeat him would be to contain him. The second barrier shoots forward toward Immolation Man, but stops directly in front of him. Most opponents would have expected a barrier smash attack, flattening the shinobi in-between both barriers, but this is not the case. The two barriers that Kakamo had placed underground earlier rise up to box the enemy in. The second, thickest wall separates into two pieces. One flies above the rest and forms a roof. another barrier serves as a floor.

"Hatake art: white barrier box trap jutsu!" Kakamo calls. The barriers connect at the sides and corners, creating an airtight seal. Kakamo sits down. The only thing left to do to wait for the enemy to suffocate. Konoha ninja flood the battlefield. It's over.


	34. Chapter 34: Jenna

**The Whole Hatake Clan thing is a flashback. Last chapter was a flashback in a flashback. If you're confused, you can always PM me.**

 **I Have so many great ideas right now for the future plot** **It's really gotta be said** **and if you're getting bored sleep soundly with he knowledge that things are about to go _dowwwn_ and not only does it not include creepy romance or crossovers but it is also 100% original so everyone hold on to your butts because this is gonna be one hell of a story.**

August 2nd

Jenna Hatake was probably the closest thing that Kakashi had to a real friend. A girl with long brown hair and silver highlights, tall for her age, and surprising blue eyes that have a certain gleam, unique to her. Kakashi had to admit that she was stunningly beautiful, but that wasn't the reason for their 'friendship'. Both children happened to sit next to each other in class, and were both similar in their dismissive, lazy attitudes. August second also just happened to be her birthday. Kakashi's heart pulsated with excitement as he walked down the sidewalk and through the market area, with her gift in his hands. What did children do at birthday parties? Will the other children there be like him? Kakashi's cardboard box, masterfully wrapped in red paper, bounced in his arms. The sequel to that novel she always reads in class would be a perfect gift. Next to a small produce store with a red awning, a staircase that lead into the building up to the apartments above welcomed Kakashi. A mailbox, hastily bolted to the terra cotta wall, was attached to a few red and yellow balloons. Kakashi took a deep breath, and then left the crowded streets for the spiral staircase. The stairs ended in a hallway, with six doors on either side, each with a different brass number on the front. One door, door #5, had a small red balloon connected by some silver ribbon to the door handle. Kakashi reached to grab the knob, but couldn't turn it. His hand leaped back, clutching his box. For some unexplainable reason, Kakashi really did not want to open the door, but, on the other hand, he was curious to see what a party was like. Kakashi chalked his emotions up to nerves at entering Jenna's house and opened the door.

He was greeted by a charming, warm hallway. A tall wooden bookcase to the right, and the dining room to the left. There are plates on the table, and a cake in the center, uneaten. Above his head are red streamers.

A feeling of dread falls into Kakashi's stomach. Why can't he hear anyone talking? Why is nobody having fun? Why can't he feel any chakra signatures?

 _Maybe the party was moved outside,_ he tells himself. _It is a nice day, after all._ Kakashi sets his present on the table and turns to leave, to check if everyone went to the park, when he hears a whimper. It sounds... like somebody's crying in the kitchen. Kakashi fits everything together, and mentally scolds himself for assuming the worst. Kakashi must have been the only one who came to the party. Kakashi walks through the hallway from the dining room to the kitchen. The door is locked. He listens for a moment. Kakashi inserts his chakra into the lock in the shape of the key and unlocks the door. By chance, he looks down and notices a red liquid coming out from under the door. A small pool of blood. Just then, something wet lands on Kakashi's face. Another drop settles in his hair. Kakashi wipes his forehead and looks at the substance. It's blood. Slowly, Kakashi dares to look upward. His eyes widen as they are greeted by a horrifying sight. Jenna's mother, dismembered, each limb speared to the ceiling with an ethereal silver spike. Her face is twisted, but her eyes stare into Kakashi's. "F-Father?" Kakashi falls down against the wall, breathing heavily. That was his father's kekkai genkai. Nobody else in the world has it. His father murdered his best friend's parents. "W-Why?" Kakashi gasps. A surge of terror flew around Kakashi's heart. His father is a murder, and a liar. He lived with that man all his life. _No, that's not true. It can't be true. He saved Konoha multiple times! He's not evil!_

But what really scared Kakashi is that Jenna's mother was a jonin. If it wasn't Kakamo, then a powerful attacker must be in the next room... with Jenna. More than the two could manage alone. Kakashi attempted to regain his resolve. He needed to find out what was going on. Slowly, he opened the door. Kakashi gasped at the horrors that were next. His heart beat madly. His vision narrowed. The kitchen was splattered in blood. Small boys and girls were speared through the heart by various objects, including knives, silver spikes, and other dangerous objects. One boy, Kumio, who he remembered from class at the academy, was stabbed through by the wrong end of the knife. Kakashi stood in the doorway, shocked, his mind blank. In a sitting position, leaning against a cabinet, bloody but unharmed, was Jenna. Jenna looked up at the sound of Kakashi entering the room. She gripped her head, making odd noises. She looked very pale, but mostly, covered in blood.

Kakashi didn't think any of it was hers.

" _Kakashi, run! Get away from me!"_ She screamed as she stood up jerkily. "I don't know what I'm doing!" She shouts.

"Jenna! What's going on!?"

Jenna's arm bends backwards at an impossible angle to grab a knife from the wall rack behind her. Tears drip down her face as she brandishes a large kitchen knife against Kakashi. Kakashi couldn't move. His feet felt pinned to the ground.

"Run, Kakashi!" She yells again. "You can't die!" With some unearthly power, Jenna bursts forward, almost like she had teleported. The knife bore down on Kakashi's neck. Suddenly, the spell was undone. Kakashi stumbled in his attempt to dodge, but she was too fast. The knife swung down on Kakashi's neck. He closed his eyes, but the sharp bite of the knife never came. Instead, Jenna's other hand had blocked the path of knife. She clutched the blade with her left hand, the knife speared through her hand. The point stopped moving only a centimeter from Kakashi's neck. Her left arm struggles against her right, but it's clearly a losing battle. The knife inches closer. "Kill me, quickly! I would kill myself if you died, anyway. Make it fast!" She gasped.

"Huh?" Kakashi could only say.

"Kakashi... I think I'm in love with you! But since we'll never be together... Let me die by your hand!"

Shaking, Kakashi pulls his kunai from his back pocket. He holds the knife to her throat.

"I can't hold myself back much longer!"

Kakashi can't do it. He can't kill her. Tears fall from both of their eyes. The droplets mix together on the floor. Suddenly, in a blur of motion, Jenna elbows Kakashi in the ribs, then punches him in the face. Too fast for him to react. His body flies across the room, slamming through the kitchen wall in a shower of hardened clay and wood. Sunlight hits his eyes, and he is flung onto the streets three stories below. The pedestrians scream and scramble to get away from the falling debris. Kakashi counts his injuries. That hit broke two ribs, on the left side. Pained, Kakashi stands up. Jenna jumps down onto the streets. She lost control. Her eyes are glowing white, spreading light like lanterns. Her hair waves upward in the air. In a blur of speed, she launches herself toward Kakashi. He barely dodges. She launches silver spikes at Kakashi, which he dodges swiftly before mounting his counterattack. He leaps forward and smacks her across the face with an incredible, chakra-infused punch. Her face twists to the side, rather than being blown backward like Kakashi expected. Her head slowly turns to face Kakashi. In a quick, lightning-fast maneuver, she spears her hand at Kakashi. Her fingers penetrate Kakashi's skin, splattering blood everywhere. Kakashi winces at the pain, And backflips over her. As much as Kakashi hates to admit it, he can't win this one. As a result of his broken ribs, Kakashi lands the flip awkwardly, falling off of his feet. Kakashi looks up at Jenna. A silver spike appears above her head to impale Kakashi. It shoots forward, and for the second time, Kakashi closes his eyes, and for the second time, death doesn't come.

A barrier impedes the process of the spike. _Father,_ Kakashi thinks. Then, he blacks out.


	35. Chapter 35: Cutout

BK= Before Kyuubi

* * *

August 2nd, 7 Years BK, In an underground fortress on the border of the Land of Fire;

"The test went quite well." Danzo strikes an imposing figure in the room. His shadow reflects onto the stony cave wall behind him. Small drops of water navigate the moss. How the moss is able to grow is a mystery that no-one cares enough to solve. On the opposite side of an oak conference table, the Tsuchikage floats in the air, legs folded in a crossed position.

"Tell me, what happened?" He asks.

"The child was injected successfully. She went completely out of her mind, and then killed a few other children. The White Fang's son may be infected as well. If he transmits the disease to his father, he will surely die. Then, I will be able to secure my position as Hokage once the Third is dead. Konoha will be in shambles, and it will be me who will stand tall amongst the chaos." Danzo rubs his hands together thoughtfully.

"Yes, and I will have my revenge. It is... mutually beneficial." Ohnoki agrees. "So, I trust we will not have to manufacture more of the white chakra strain?"

"That is correct. Your specialists have done well. Now, I must do my part." Danzo nods to Ohnoki and turns toward the doorway, an irregularly-shaped hole in the side of the cavern that lead to the surface.

"This better be worth the years of research we put into that poison."

"Oh, it will be." Danzo replies, without turning his head to see the subject of his words as walks out of the door. The ROOT members guarding outside of the door fall in line behind him. That old fool. As long as Namikaze is around, the Stone would lose in war regardless of whether or not Kakamo is alive. Danzo _will_ be Hokage.

* * *

August 3rd, 7 Years BK, Inoichi Yamanaka's therapy office;

"So, you don't remember anything?"

Kakashi shakes his head. the young boy couldn't shake the feeling that something huge had happened, but he didn't know what, like it was on the tip of his tongue. His father, seated in the leather chair beside him, shares a dissaproving glance with the mind specialist. Kakashi reviewed what he could remember of the last 24 hours. Since last night, his mother and father had a troubled look on their faces. They wouldn't let him watch the news. They walked on eggshells around him, as if they carried a cup of poisonous liquid, filled to the brim, that could spill and infect Kakashi at any moment with it's perilous sludge. Kakashi knew that he had somehow forgotten something very important.

"Tell me about what happened, starting with the day before yesterday." The Yamanaka doctor said. Kakashi rubbed his forehead.

"Well, two nights ago, I ate dinner with my family and then went to bed. Then I don't remember anything between then and when I woke up in the hospital."

The doctor and Kakamo looked each other in the eye, knowingly, and then they shared another look with Kakashi's mother.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked, nervously.

"Well, you went to Jenna's birthday party yesterday... And she released some kind power. It was too much for her to control, and... It consumed her, Kakashi. Everyone else at the party died except you." Kakamo admitted, slowly and awkwardly. An image of confusion appeared on Kakashi's face, and then guilt. He didn't know what happened, but, he only knew that he failed to protect his friends. He swore to himself, he would stay close to his friends and protect them. This would never happen again.

Sakumo. Sakumi. Jenna. Sarah. Minato. Kushina. Rin. Obito.

* * *

-Present Time-

"Sarah, there's absolutely no way we're gonna let you fight Zabuza." Yuri asserts, with a slightly amused tone, as he regards the silver-haired girl. Kakashi silently nods in agreement.

"But Sensei, you need my skills, don't you?" Sarah pleads. This was her final rational argument. After this, she would have to start bulshitting.

"Actually, we don't need you. Not even close. To be honest... You're pretty much worthless right now. Just dead weight. You need to get stronger, and if you were, I'd let you join us, injured or not."

Sarah's face bleeds red in embarrassment. She falls silent, off-put by the comment. Fidgeting with the hem of the blanket, she opens her mouth to retort, but instead falls silent. It's true, she kinda does suck. Maybe she's strong for her age, but not strong enough to face A-rank shinobi. Naruto is a jinchurriki. Sasuke has the sharingan. They are valuable in a fight against anyone, but her and her team- they act as anchors, dragging down their Sensei. Internally, Sarah knows that she has been lucky so far.

Kakashi glances over at Yuri. Jonin Senseis should be encouraging, not berating their students. "You'll get stronger quickly." Kakashi says, in an attempt t diffuse the awkward tone that settled on the three like mist. "You've only been a shinobi for a little while, and you've made miraculous progress already. I think you'll become chunin easy at the next exams."

"Thanks, Kakashi-Sensei." Sarah nods in appreciation.

 _What's gotten into me?_ Kakashi wonders. He's never been like this to anyone before. Unlike Asuma, Kakashi firmly believed that genin shouldn't be coddled. Outside the window, a small brown bird landed on the windowsill, chirping as it hopped in the withered flowerbed.

Yuri's face appears conflicted as he speaks. "We just... Don't want anyone to get hurt, okay?"

"I know." Sarah says.

Yuri stands up from his wooden chair, and pats Sara's leg as he turns toward the door. Kakashi stands up with him and follows Yuri, but stops in the doorway. "We'll have Kaito stay here to protect you." He says, glancing back over his shoulder.

Sarah nods her head on her pillow. Her wild, unwashed hair squirms around her pale face. After a quick pause, Kakashi strides down the peach- hallway, hands in his pockets. Sarah turns over onto her left side, wincing as her injury gives her pain. The green-colored wall she stared at seemed to stare back, in a knowing way, as if it understood her pain. Slowly, her eyes droop, and she begins to fall asleep. On the white windowsill, the bird looks into the room at the sleeping figure. It cocks it's head to the side, and, after a moment, it flies away. The sun peeks out from behind a tall wooden building, emitting a square of light onto the sleeping girl.

Downstairs, Kakashi leaped from his seat, giving orders to his students and Yuri as he swings his own backpack onto his sturdy shoulders. Only a moment ago, his clone, who was enjoying the warm rays of the sun, as well as his third favorite sex scene in Icha Icha: Makeout Tactics, jumped in surprise. His book, which was visible only a moment ago, had been obscured by a thick mist. Kakashi's clone sighed. He really wanted to know what Mirimi was going to do with that lemon. Jiraya certainly was a master of creativity. The clone pocketed the book and stood up. The faster he defeated the enemy, the sooner he could figure out what that lemon would be used for- the only explanation he could think of currently made him cringe. Not that he doubted Jiraya's writing skills.

* * *

August 5th, 7 Years BK

"Look, Kakashi... Don't be like this. Please. Your academy teacher sent me a note today, asking if everything is okay," Kakashi's mother kindly addressed her son, who slowly attempted to eat a small bowl of soup.

She tried a different tactic. "Jenna wouldn't have wanted you to give everyone the cold shoulder. You can't just ignore everyone forever."

Kakashi slams his spoon down on the table. Without looking up, he pushes his stool backwards and stands up. He silently strides to the coat-rack. He reaches for his black hoodie. Slipping it over his head, and flipping up the hood, he stalks out of the front door.

Kakamo rests his hand on wife's. She gives him an uncertain glance.

"Give his heart time to heal." He says, softly. Sakumi nods.

Kakashi walks down the sidewalk of the the civilian sector of the Hatake compound. Kakamo chose to raise Kakashi in the civilian district because the people there seemed to be more carefree and social than in the shinobi district. Most houses in the shinobi district were very plain, and no-one travelled on the sidewalks. People only went outside to get the mail or to retrieve a package. Often, there were houses that seemed abandoned. Kakashi quickened his pace to a brisk jog, and then an all-out run. The sun was low on the horizon. The wind picked up in speed to match Kakashi, blowing against his face. Soon, raindrops joined the tears that streamed off of Kakashi's face. Kakashi doesn't know why he feels this way. He barely knew any of them. Kakashi pumps his arms up and down, putting on a burst of speed. the buildings around him blur. Lanterns hanging on trees are a streak of light in the corner of his eye. The wind slashes his face. Somewhere during his run, he realizes why he is angry- because he did nothing. He was useless. He didn't even save one of those children. As a prodigy, they were his responsibility. Kakashi's face twists into an open frown. His body shudders. He gasps for air.

After about thirty minutes of running, he slows to a stop. The harsh wind of the night had dried his tears. Kakashi sat down on a bench that was next to him and surveyed his surroundings, hopelessly lost. Or, maybe, he wasn't as lost as he thought he was. He recognized the green walls of the forts, resting on the playground mulch for their nightly sleep. Thin wooden cutouts of ninja lay strewn around on the wood chips. A Hatake flag flapped in the wind above each of the wooden forts. He was in the park, by the ice-cream stand he had visited just the other day. He had run a full lap around Konoha, without even realizing the impressive mileage he had run.

Slowly leaning to his feet, Kakashi fixed his hand on one of the cutout ninjas and righted it. The enemy looked on him menacingly. Walking around the forts, he set up the rest of the pseudo-shinobi. In the middle of the playground, Kakashi closed his eyes.

Ninja to his right.

Kakashi swings around and blasts his fist through the wooden cutout. A hole appears in the cutout's forehead. Trembling, it falls backward. Kakashi jumps high in the air, spinning around twice while flipping to land in a handstand. He spins on his right hand, like a top, while upside down, his legs out to the sides, forming a T shape. His feet slash through two cutouts, cutting them in half at the waist, sending splinters into the air, which were quickly carried away by the dark wind. Kakashi finishes his spin and flips backward, landing behind a cutout. An elbow smashes through it's ribs, then a heel kick slams it to the ground. the noise of splitting wood fills the night. He launches himself sideways, then kicks off the wall of the orange fort, his body parallel to the ground. He holds his fist out, which catches the fith enemy in the stomach, and it cracks in half with a loud ' _Crack!'._

Kakash lands, dragging his feet to slow himself. Two trenches were carved in the mulch. A backwards kick pierces the sixth enemy. Opening his eyes, he finds a few long, straight pieces of mulch on the ground. He closes his eyes again and hops onto the playground swing. While swinging back and forth, Kakashi carefully aims. A swing of his arm launches the mulch through the hearts of four cutouts. The mulch pierced them so quickly that it did not quite knock them over, leaving them to sway in the wind. He jumps down from the swing at the height of it's crescent course, performing a front-flip and landing in a squat.

He opens his eyes as he stands, surveying his work. His eyes latch onto one of the still-standing boards. His mulch attack had failed to hit the final board. Kakashi stared at it as if it was a mirage. How could he have missed? He memorized their locations perfectly.

The remaining cutout flickered white for just an instant. Kakashi looked at it suspiciously. He tosses a piece of mulch at it. In a puff of smoke, the transformation jutsu is unbalanced by the mulch. His father stands in the place of the cutout.

"Father..." Kakashi whispers.

Kakamo opens his arms. "I'm right here."

Kakashi rushes forward into his father's embrace.


	36. Chapter 36: Our Demons

-Present Time-

"Heroes only show up at the last second!"

Yells from outside pervade the thin walls of the room in which Sarah is sleeping. She is lying on her back, and her head and left arm is off the bed. Her left leg is off the bed as well, only half her body and her right leg remain on the mattress. Her sheets are strewn everywhere- one desperately clings to her right leg, while the other lies across the room, wounded, leaning against the bedroom door. She snores softly in her sleep, but occasionally, a large snore racks her body. Her legs and hand spasm as she fights off enemy ninja in her dreams. She is the last line of defense between the angry shopping ninjas and the dessert isle at Walmart. She backflips over a wall of shelves, landing behind and incapacitating a sneaky shinobi who very nearly stole a box of jelly-filled donuts from her shopping cart. Above the fighting scene, a large sign says, 'Black Friday' Written in blood on black fabric. The shinobi falls to the ground, and his head hits the glass sliding door of the ice-cream freezer. Sarah turns his body over, and his face stares into hers. _Ebisu-Sensei? What's he doing here?!_

-Meanwhile...-

"Oh, the sharingan again?" Zabuza taunts. "You insult me, using the same old trick twice."

Kakashi raises his headband revealing a second eye, a red one, swirling cooly in it's socket as it takes in information.

"Consider yourself lucky- you're the only one who's seen it twice!" Kakashi's red eye speeds up it's rotation, as if it has a mind of it's own- as if it's clearly not connected to Kakashi's soul. "Show's over, kid- you're not gonna see it a third time." Kakashi retorts.

Zabuza levels his sword and suddenly races forward. Kakashi forms quick hand seals.

"Earth style: Upheaval!" Kakashi shouts, and a pillar of dirt shoots up in front of Zabuza like a geyser. He dodges skillfully, only for another pillar to sprout up between his feet. A small leap clears him if the column, At the top of his arc, Zabuza twists his body, bringing his broadsword down over his head and diving straight for Kakashi's silver hair. Kakashi catches Zabuza's blade with a kunai and pushes back, throwing Zabuza backward. His feet dig into the cobblestone, slowing him to a halt.

Upon landing, Zabuza risks a look towards Haku. His situation doesn't look any better- a man with a green vest over cream-colored robes stands over the emo kid and the yellow energizer bunny, performing double-hand seals for two different jutsu at once. A combination attack. Yuri takes a deep breath, then, after a moment, breathes a plume of fire and wind at once. The flames, enhanced by the speeding air, blast an ice mirror. It holds up for a moment, and Zabuza catches on to a sliver of hope in his chest. Suddenly the hope crumbles as the mirror begins to melt away. Seemingly invigorated by the destruction of the mirror, the fire beam becomes larger, enveloping a few other mirrors. Zabuza stares on in shock.

Kakashi, seeing his chance, makes three fast hand seals. "Chidori! Lightning blade!"

A cruel wind is raised, kicking up dust and mortar and blowing away the remaining shreds of mist. The cry of an eagle rips across the water. Lightning lolls in Kakashi's right hand, arcing out to grab anything it can reach. The sound is something between the rocketing of an oncoming train and the chirping of a million birds at once, a raw squeak that is both mesmerizing yet makes you want to cover your ears at the same time. Kakashi races forward. Zabuza swings his sword to sever Kakashi's arm in two at the elbow before the chidori lands in Zabuza's heart. Zabuza grins as it appears that he is going to succeed, but, in the final moment, Kakashi retracts his hand and grips the blade itself. Lightning zips through Kakashi's arm and through the sword and through the unprepared ex-mist-nin, who screams in pain and drops his heavy sword. It clatters on the ground. Kakashi knocks it off the side with a swift kick before slamming Zabuza in the side of the head in the same motion.

Still recoiling from the shock of the lightning bolt, Zabuza is flung into a stack of wooden bridge supports. Kakashi does not let up, stepping forward to take hold of Zabuza's neck. Kakashi lifts Zabuza into the air by his throat, suffocating the ninja.

"I... Underestimated you again." Zabuza gasps.

"Well, I don't have kids to babysit this time." Kakashi says. With that, he slams his left fist into Zabuza's face, a heavy, quick, ruthless uppercut, the thick muscles on his biceps swinging upward. The hit sprays blood into his silver hair. Kakashi throws Zabuza down against the wooden supports, leaving a blood smear against the pallets.

Kakashi reaches for a kunai and plunges the cold steel to Zabuza's chest. Zabuza manages to draw a kunai and deflects the blade before backflipping twice away from Kakashi. Both stare at each other from an easy distance of twenty feet, waiting for the next move like boxers circling each other in a ring.

Kakashi shoots a volley of kunai at Zabuza. He barely avoids being hit. The volley was all Kakashi needed to know to win the fight. Zabuza can't move the right side of his body above his waist.

That means no more jutsu for Zabuza.

Not wanting to waste any more chakra than he already has, Kakashi reaches toward his face and re-covers his red eye, which spins happily in celebration of another job well- done.

"Don't write me off!" Zabuza growls. Zabuza coughs into his hand. Red liquid is spattered on his palm. "I'm not done yet."

"Yeah, yeah," Kakashi retorts. "That's what they all say."

Zabuza's right arm dangled at his side, red and angry burns intermingled with charred flesh visible. His shirt was totally burned away, except for a few lonely threads that formed more of a bracelet on his left wrist. His chest was crossed with singed skin.

"Zabuza!" Haku screams.

The beam of fiery fury melts away the last of the mirrors until there are no mirrors left to teleport to. Haku sat in his last mirror, stunned, nowhere left to go. The jet broke through, launching him out of the mirror, backwards, onto the uneven stone. A kunai appears at his throat. It's over.

"Kill me." Haku says. "In a world where I'm not strong enough to serve Zabuza, I can't live. Just finish me."

"What is it with suicidal teens these days?" Yuri asks. "I don't remember my teenage years being that hard- but maybe that's just 'cuz I wasn't ugly like you... Wait a minute... Are you even a girl? Cuz, like, you're even flatter than Sakura but you have that long hair-"

"Kill me!" Haku interrupts fiercely, having firmed his resolve.

"Nah. Why would I give my enemy what they want?"

Kakashi and Zabuza face off a final time. For a moment, neither moves. Then, as fast as lightning, Zabuza hurls a few kunai at Kakashi, then dives for his sword.

"Firestyle: Red-hot!" A swirling comet of fire sprints from Kakashi's open mouth toward Zabuza. Zabuza scoops the blade up in his left hand and uses the giant broadsword as a shield, protecting himself from the short but concentrated blast. Kakashi forms three hand seals and appears behind Zabuza. Zabuza kicks out his foot to sweep Kakashi's out from under him, but Kakashi jumps into the air. In the split second that Kakashi can't dodge, Zabuza brings his cleaver down in a loose swipe. A puff of smoke shows that Kakashi had replaced himself with a shadow clone. Kakashi lands behind Zabuza, a kunai to the back of his neck. "This time, checkmate for sure."

Zabuza smiles. "I don't think so."

A torrent of water hits Kakashi like a truck from the side, blasting him backwards.

 _'Unless there's a new opponent, that was definitely Zabuza's,'_ Kakashi thinks as he stands. Kakashi squashes the urge to smack his forehead. _'Zabuza must have made a clone before he lost his arm! And it was probably hiding while we fought, so that it could kill the bridge builder while I was distracted!'_

Kakashi looks around wildly to re-orient himself. Finally, he sees the bridge-builder, his face clearly warped in fear. Sakura stands in front of him, gaping at the charging clone. The Zabuza clone winds his sword back on his shoulders, ready to swing. Sakura is rooted to the ground with fear, clutching a kunai with white knuckles, silently praying that the mission would just end. Naruto, Sasuke, and Rei sprint to save their client, but they're too late. He's going to die.

How could Kakashi have missed that clone?! A memory of a tall blonde's face appears in Kakashi's mind's eye. _"Sometimes, the biggest mistakes you can make are the stupidest ones!"_ The face smiles brightly, closing his blue blue eyes.

 _Not now, Minato-Sensei._

The sword comes down on Tazuna and Sakura, both at once, cleaving Sakura at the neck and Tazuna in half at the waist. Blood sprays. A thick, wet sound emanates across the clearing. Kakashi watches in horror as he lets yet another teammate die before his eyes. A million pounds is added to the Thirty Million pounds of guilt he feels on his shoulders. Maybe he should just kill himself, end the curse. Besides- if the curse is true, it's the only way to truly save Minato's son.


	37. Chapter 37: What She Left Behind

Thanks, Kumoriko, my main man

this chapter and last chapter were actually supposed to be one chapter but I split it cuz I'm mean ;)

im kinda rushing through the wave mission cuz it's boring and I want to get it over with so chapters will be fast-paced.

* * *

Then a poof. Then, another.

"HA! Tricked 'YA!" A blonde yells from behind Kakashi.

"WHAT!?" Zabuza yells in rage. "ARE YOU KIDDING?"

Zabuza's sneer turns to disbelief as he watches pinkie and his target turn into a puff of smoke. He must have been switched out with clones while he was distracted by Kakashi!

"Earthstyle: Headhunter Jutsu!" Rei's voice calls clearly. The clone, surprised, falls into the ground with just his neck sticking above the ground.

A millisecond later, Sasuke falls from the sky, performing a double-backflip as he lands in a crouch, a kunai in his hands. It sinks into the water clone's head, dispersing it into a puddle.

A moan, accompanied by the sound of Sakura's fainted body hitting the cobblestones comes from a pile of construction blocks. Her face is flushed red, the words, "So Cool" still on her lips.

"Wha-what happened?" Kakashi stares, his one eye still dilated in horror.

"OH!" Naruto laughs as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "I asked Rei and Sakura-chan to go take Tazuna to safety a way, way long time ago! I meant to warn you, but I didn't want to interrupt your fight."

Kakashi kneels down, breathing deeply. Chakra exhaustion seemed to sweep through him in waves. Lightning Blade and Red-Hot seemed to take far more chakra than he remembered. Plus, the Sharingan... He needed desperately to create a better move than Lightning Blade that didn't require Obito's final gift.

"We got him, Sensei!" Naruto cheers. Does that mean we can go eat now? I'm hungry!"

"Hey Kakashi, are you alright?" Yuri asks, a firmly bound Haku over his shoulders.

Kakashi gasps and wheezes, holding his stomach. A green glow appears on his hand. That jutsu hit hard. It's a wonder it didn't break any ribs. "Yeah, I'm... Fine."

"You shouldn't rely on that Sharingan so much." A concerned look appears on Yuri's face. "It was still a pretty good fight, though. I'm gonna need a day or two of rest to get my chakra back up after that fight. I can't fully use combination jutsu yet, so I just poured all my chakra inna' that one to brute force it. Feels like I've been hit by a hurrica-err, typhoon." Yuri offers his hand to Kakashi, and Kakashi takes it, pulling himself to his feet.

Kakashi's and Yuri's heads both snap to the left as they sense incoming people. Reinforcements, but not of the good kind. The mob makes its way toward the group of recuperating shinobi. A squat man with brown facial hair holds up his hand and the group stops.

"IT LOOKS," he announces loudly to direct attention toward himself, "Like I've made a small miscalculation. I didn't know you'd be bringing backup, Copy-eyed whoever you are."

Everyone on the battlefield looks toward the new opponent. A small man in a business suit stands flanked by two weak-looking ninja. Behind him, a vast army of thugs, menacingly tossing their swords, clubs, and axes from hand to hand.

"Huh? And who are you supposed to be?" Naruto yells, pointing his classic accusatory finger. Sasuke regards the newcomers with a pleasant death glare.

"I counted on all of you killing each other to avoid paying that outrageous fee you charged us, 'demon of the mist'." Gato says antagonizingly.

"WHAT!?" Zabuza looks up from where he lies against a pile of gravel. A cough racks his body. Zabuza's eyes burn. "You know what that means for the mist village! That... Tyrant will have his hands on everything we've worked for! People like Haku will never be safe!"

"Zabuza-Sensei..." Haku says, surprised.

"You think I care about the safety of people who are born with special parlor tricks? You know what I care about." Gato reaches into his pocket and pulls out his black leather wallet. He holds it aloft. "I care about mooooney! That's what we're here for, right, boys?"

The thugs sneer and jeer, and a few whistle. "Money is what rules the world, not Kekkai Genkai, or ninja honor!"

"That's right, boss!" A thug yells from the back of the crowd. The baboons with knives whistle and hoot.

"That's the spirit! Finish 'em, boys!" Gato yells. The thugs sprint forward, all in one mass of sharp moving points.

"You bastard!" Zabuza yells, trying to stand up. "I'll find a way to save you and your family, Haku! Whatever it takes!"

Haku turns to a deep state of tomato red, even though he's still bound.

"You good to fight?" Yuri asks Kakashi.

"As long as no jutsu get thrown around. It feels like I'm walking through syrup."

Naruto calmly walks in front of Kakashi and Yuri. "Don't worry about it." He pulls two kunai from his sleeves. "I'll take it from here... ...Zabuza." Naruto turns around to point at Zabuza's bloody figure. "You're an asshole, but I admire your dreams. But sometimes, you don't need to take on the world by yourself."

"Where the... I think that's the most inspirational thing I've ever heard from a genin! Where did you get that from?" Yuri says, exasperated.

"Ah?" Naruto shrugs. "Dunno, just though it sounded cool."

Rei and Sasuke stand shoulder-to-shoulder next to Naruto. After a moment, Sakura takes slow, trembling steps to join her teammates.

"Let's do this!" Naruto yells, as the thugs run forward. The genin run forward to meet them, but both parties stop as an arrow flies over the ninja's heads and lands between the two approaching sides. "What was that?" Naruto asks. The ninja look behind them. Approaching on the other side of the bridge is an enormous mob, vastly outnumbering the thugs, marching forward to a steady step. Villagers. Wielding pans, kitchen knives, bows, flaming torches, gardening tools, bows, and even bricks, the angry townspeople march forward. In the front is a small child with a crossbow and a pot on his head. Tazuna stands next to him with a tall wooden staff.

"These ninja took a stand for us!" Tazuna yells. "I think it's time we took a stand for ourselves!"

The crowd behind him hollers in assent. "Our wives beaten in the streets, our children abused, our husbands forced to do terrible things! We're not gonna sit here, and cower in fear any longer!"

The crowd again cheers. The thugs begin to give each other uncertain looks.

"I said, get them, boys! Whoever kills a ninja gets an extra bonus! Kill them all!" Gato yells. He quickly makes his way to the back of the thugs, anticipating the battle.

A whirring noise fills the air. A giant sword lands just behind Gato, tripping him onto his back. The thugs, who seemed rejuvenated by the premise of a bonus now seemed uncertain. Zabuza slowly gets to his feet. "Oops." He says, slowly, painfully. "I need that sword. Well, I'll just have to go and get it back..." Zabuza's hand dips into his pouch. A kunai. With a flick of the wrist, the kunai impales the throat of the first thug. Zabuza runs forward, grabs it, and stabs the heart of a second, then kills a third, and a fourth, and a fifth. Zabuza breaks into a run, sprinting for the back of the pack. Six dead. Now twelve. Now eighteen. The fighters watch in shock at the brutality of the killings. Unable to use his right arm, Zabuza clubs a thug with his forehead while stabbing another through the chest. Gato, in a blind panic, tries to put as much distance between the mist demon and himself.

It's not enough. Zabuza collects his sword, and then, with a one-handed swipe, cuts Gato in two, right down the center.

"I took this mission to help raise funds for the rebellion against a the ruthless tyrant that's leading the Mist right now. His name is Yagura. Yagura is trying to persecute people with Kekkei Genkai because he thinks they're a threat. To me, it's worth killing a few Leaf shinobi in order to save my country. To you, it's worth killing me to protect the bridge builders. Who we fight is all about what we value the most. But now that I have this-" Zabuza waves the black leather pocketbook in his remaining hand- "We don't have a reason to fight, do we? Even after you took half the money to restore the village, my war is more than funded."

"No, we don't." Kakashi admits.

"It was nice to know you, Naruto." Haku says.

"You too, Haku! I hope I'll see you again!"

"You too sure made up quick. Weren't you two trying to kill each other just yesterday?" Rei comments.

"I think you were." Kaito says.

"If you want, you can come back to our village to get some medical attention for your arm." Kakashi offers. Zabuza shrugs. His right arm was amputated at the elbow, and he still couldn't move what was left of it, or even his shoulder. He got off lucky- he was standing directly above a metal beam that channeled the electricity through his body quickly when he was struck by the Lighting Blade. The lightning attack was also indirect, having passed through the sword first.

The townspeople had been grateful for Zabuza having killed Gato, although he intended to kill Gato after he completed the mission anyway. He received medical treatment immediately, and was able to survive the burns and injuries as well as the stab wounds from the thugs. It has taken him a good two or three weeks to recover. Haku recovered quickly as well. Zabuza and Haku were celebrated as heroes as much as Team 7 and Team 15. Except for Tazuna, nobody knew what really happened on the bridge.

"Byyye, Haku and Zabuza!" Everyone cheers, as the two turn away and disappear down the path towards the Mist together.

Zabuza gives a lazy wave over his shoulder. "I hate every single one of you."

Yuri hums a tune. "Duude looks like a Laadyy!"

"Where did you hear that song?" Sarah snaps urgently, surprised.

"Uhh, I just made it up on the spot." Yuri shrugs simply.

"You did not make that up- I've heard that before." Sarah says in a low voice.

Yuri's eyebrow raises. "You must be thinking of something else."

"So, basically," the girl explains, splashing her bare feet in the water, "Shadow Clones make everything easier. That's my point. They are so versatile, and that makes them one of the most useful Justus you can learn... Naruto, are you even listening?"

"What's a ver-sa-tilay?"

"Wow, you actually heard me."

Naruto splashes salt water on her legs. "If you get water on my pants, I'm gonna cut you."

"Ahh, you'd cut me anyway."

"Do I look like Sakura to you?"

A cool ocean breeze flies through each their hair. Naruto points out onto the water. "See that red light out there?"

A red light can be seen out on the waves, too far away to see the actual boat itself. "Yeah, why?"

"What kinda boat do you think that is?"

"The kind that floats." Sarah says.

"Ohh, really?" Naruto rolls his eyes.

"Do you want to go home?" Sarah asks.

"I donno. I mean, everyone likes me here." He says.

"I like you at home."

"Thanks, Sarah-chan."

"No problem!" An eye-smile appears on her face. "Another bit of advice- don't try to fight Sasuke so much. Sasuke actually does think of you as his 'rival', and so he ignores you and acts like he doesn't care because that's what you hate the most, isn't it?"

A realization dawns on his face. "Ohh! That bastard's got me all figured out!"

"Yep. He does that."

"So all I have to do now is beat him at his own game!" Naruto jumps up, suddenly exited.

"Watch out, that board doesn't seem stable." Sarah warns.

"What now?" Naruto asks. Crunch. The board breaks, and Naruto falls through, sputtering, into the freezing water below.

"He didn't even deserve that one." Rei says, as he offers his hand to Sarah. She leans on it and stands up.

"What's going on?"

"Dinner's ready. Some kinda party on the bridge, since we're leaving tomorrow morning." Rei explains.

"Aww, yeah!" Sarah and Rei run down the dock toward the house, leaving a soggy Naruto crawling on the beach.

"You're evil, Sarah-chan!"

Hahaha I am eviler. Did I trick you?


	38. Chapter 38: Odd Jobs

Back in Konoha, spring was _really_ springing. Like, massively. Every time I look out the window or go outside, the amount of green surprises me. Not that it isn't always Spring-like in Konoha- but when it's actually, like, the spring time of year, Spring hits hard. It's beautiful, though. To see the sun shine through the leaves of the thick canopy forest imparts a kind of magic, if this world isn't magical enough already. I guess only a few months of living here has got me used to all the chakra and stuff, and I would not be surprised to see my neighbor watering their garden by spitting streams of water out of their eyes. Well, I guess we don't really have neighbors, so I lucked out on that one. Living with parents again was great at first, but now it's starting to drive me crazy as I get more and more comfortable in their house and I get more and more lazy.

I'm lucky that I found a family that matches my eating styles, (i.e. eating multiple tubs of ice cream for dinner) but I have been noticing the growing trend of my family members being clean freaks. Anyhow, my 'mom' retired from the Hospital. So that's a thing. Now she dedicates her time to growing mystical herbs that she thinks are magical or something but I swear to God they do absolutely nothing. Remember how the 'weight loss' herbs went. Ha. Ha, ha ha. That was a good one. Or all the special nutrient pills that she tests on Choji and I. We are going to die from one of those some day. And now that she's at home, she actually forces me to take them every morning. Along with a super-healthy 'green' smoothie that tastes like pond scum.

At least she cares, unlike my previous parents.

I stride to the door, wearing a pair of short running shorts and a breathable T-shirt. Today, after many days of procrastination, I'm gonna go training. I grab my ninja supplies and sneak out of the front door in order to avoid an awkward conversation with mom about where I'm going, and I head down the gravel road. The sun is directly overhead, but it's not too hot. There's a perfect breeze. Sounds like a great day for doing things.

The walk from the Akimichi compound didn't take too long. A few people smile and waved at me, and I return the gesture, feeling more confident. Today, I've invited Sasuke to train with me. To, you know, try to patch up the situation with his relationship to the other genin. I've got an idea for a new jutsu, but I just need to test it out.

I approach Sasuke's door. He lives in the posh area of the ninja community, surrounded by mostly successful, retired shinobi who have had their fill of death over the years. **Knock Knock.** After a few minutes, Sasuke answers the door in his full shinobi outfit.

"Let's go." He says, simply. Without a word, I turn around and head out into his driveway. I quickly glance backwards again once we're on the road- his footsteps are so quiet I can't hear him back there.

"Why do you hate Naruto so much?" I ask finally, breaking the ice. _Why couldn't I have said something else?_

"Is that what this is about? Your overprotective streak?" He says sarcastically.

"No. I want to personally measure your potential. I was just... making small talk."

Saskue nods thoughtfully.

We walk in silence until we arrive at the Training Area Desk. "Name?" The genin behind the desk asks.

"Uchiha." I say. The raises his eyebrows, then hands us a map of the training areas. "Area 12, should be up the path, your fourth left." I nod to the desk ninja and we head up the road.

"Must be nice being you," I say sweetly. "You can use only your last name to make reservations, since there aren't any other Uchiha around for them to confuse you with."

"Don't _Ever_ bring my family's past up again." Sasuke gives me a shrewd glare.

I smile. "Ooh, you lost your cool! Zabuza could have killed you in a heartbeat. Don't forget, my entire clan is dead too."

"You have Kakashi." He responds.

"I wish. But really, he's less than a clan member- everyone he grows close to meets an untimely end."

"Trying to rile me up before a spar?" Sasuke asks.

"No, I wasn't planning on sparring today. I'll wait until you're good enough to actually have a chance against me. Then we'll spar."

"So why _am_ I here then? Just so you can make me angry?" Sasuke asks. We turn the corner onto a beaten-down pebbled path to Area 12.

"I have no idea why you're here. In fact, I didn't even think you would come. I assume you have your own reasons for training with me today."

"Curiosity." He responds, with a tilt of his head. His steps kick up a flash of water from a clear puddle.

A minute later, we arrive at the training grounds. In the middle, three tall training posts stand. I set down my backpack and pull out gauze wrappings. Sasuke hooks his kunai belt onto his waist while I wrap my fists in white cloth.

"Sasuke, sometimes I have visions of the future, or the past." I say. He looks at me incredulously. "He loves you. It's not too late to adjust your goals."

Sasuke whirls around, enraged. He grabs my shoulders, intending to throw me to the ground. Two handseals later and he's holding onto a clone, disguised as a scarecrow-version of me. It puffs away. The replacement jutsu drops me behind him.

"You're an asshole." Sasuke's eyes burn with malice.

"I can prove it. That I can see the future. Suspend your judgement until then. If I'm wrong... I'll let you kill me."

Sasuke says silent for a moment, in thought.

"The chunin exams are coming up in two weeks. You will be nominated for the chunin exams. On the same day you are nominated, you will meet a boy named Gaara. With red hair and a gourd. It looks like either you or I will have to fight him, but I can't tell right now. I can only see things in the future the way it would have been if I was never born."

"Just tell me why you really invited me here."

"For training today, I'm going to educate you about your Kekkai Genkai." I say. "There are three types of sharingan- the sharingan, which lets you copy opponent's moves and predict opponent's movements, the Mangekyou sharingan, which allows you to add three of six powerful techniques to your Kekkai Genkai repertoire, and then there's the Eternal Mangekyou, the strongest. You can only earn the sharingan by nearly dying. You can only earn the Mangekyou sharingan by experiencing grief after watching the person you love the most die. Currently, you have none of these three. You were supposed to get your sharingan while fighting Haku, but since I was born, Yuri-sensei went on the mission and fought Haku for you. Sorry about that."

Sasuke shakes his head. "This is insane. I'm leaving."

"You don't have to believe me, for now. But just think about this- the sharingan is arguably the strongest Kekkai Genkai, becuase the stronger your emotions are, the stronger your eyes become." I explain. Sasuke, who had just turned to leave, pauses mid-stride. "Those emotions could be love, or they could be hate. But in order to fully master the sharingan's final ability, you must first find something to love with all of your heart and cast your hate aside. Think about that, because your brother has cast away his hate and learned the sharingan's secrets. If you can't do the same, you'll never win." Sasuke stands for a moment, considering what I said. Then, he turns around. "If you're telling the truth, why do you want to help me?" He asks.

"Because I know the terrors that the future holds. Because you, Team 7, Team 15, Team 10, everyone: we need to be as strong as possible if we want to survive. We're in for a crazy ride that you've only had a tiny, tiny taste of." I smile. "Still think I'm crazy? Well... make sure you say hi to Gaara for me." I wink.

"You're insane. Don't do anything stupid."

"That sounded a lot like concern, Sasuke. You don't... Care about me,do you?" I say cheerfully, to relieve the dark mood that had just fallen over the two of us. Sasuke strides away, surprisingly not angry. Sasuke slinks into the woods, his hands jammed in his pockets.

Was that a success? In hindsight, I probably could have done better to not alienate him. But the meeting served it's purpose: it got him thinking. Whether that's good or bad, I don't know, but I need to convince him to shift the target of his vengeance from Itatchi to Danzo. If we kill Danzo without him using the Izanagi like he did last time, we can use his implanted sharingan to give not only Sasuke but also Kakashi the Eternal Mangekyou. Without the need to worry about his vision worsening, Kakashi would not only be much stronger but he also would've able to control the Kyuubi freely if Naruto gets out of control, like Madara did during the Kyuubi attack.

To get Danzo's sharingan, I'd have to expose him for his crimes. That would be way too hard, and since I'm a fledgling ninja and a child. Even if the Third does trust me a little bit. If have to start puppeteering, not only do I not have enough experience to do but also I am waay to stupid to pull off.

So what if a criminal were to kill Danzo then? That would make it easier, but we would need someone strong. I could bait the Akatsuki, but that sounds incredibly dangerous. Before, Sasuke killed Danzo, but it was too late. Also, I'd rather Sasuke not become a criminal. He doesn't even really need Orochimaru's training- he didn't learn any important techniques that I can remember. But I think for long-term goals the first thing I have to do is to kill Danzo and get his sharingan.

Anyway, in the meantime, I'm going to do some training. I have a few ideas, and the first is basically Spider-Man. Standing back a few paces, I point my finger at a tree. A blue string shoots out and wraps around the branch. Slowly, carefully, I pull myself up. Then faster. I drop and try again.

* * *

"So, guys, you know the chunin exams are coming up, right?" I ask. With my eyes closed, I spread out my senses. There. A chakra string extends from my extended finger. It dips into the water, and then back out again, like a frog's tongue speeding to catch a fly. Rather than a fly, however, it's a metal can. With a flick of my finger, the can flies into the overstuffed garbage bag on Sasuke's back. He gives me a dirty look.

"Sarah, can you stop encouraging your idiot friends to dump their garbage in my bag? Use your own." Sasuke points to my empty trash bag, sitting on the shore.

"Well, since you're a piece of garbage too, I thought you might enjoy their company. Ya know. Since you don't have any friends." I retort. Naruto and Kaito snicker. Sakura balls her fists at me and flashes an angry look while Sasuke craftily ignores me. I roll my eyes.

"Shut up, fatass!" Sakura yells.

"Well, you got me there." I admit. After a moment of thought, "I'd rather be the fattest girl ever than have no breasts like you. At least I have breasts."

Her face turns red. She turns to me.

"WHAT did you just say?!"

"The only thing that's big about you is your forehead and your big mouth!" Naruto jeers.

"Nice one!" Naruto and I share a high-five.

Kakashi lands in between the two of us, standing calmly on the water. He still has his book in his hand. Which reminds me- I still haven't learned water walking yet. Tomorrow. I promise. "Alright, you guys, break it up. We wouldn't want someone to 'accidentally' fall off the waterfall, would we?" Kakashi says, creepily. Nobody says anything. "Alrighty then. You be good little students, okay?" Kakashi disappears in a puff of smoke, but I know he's in the third tree to the left across the river. Lazy bum. That wasn't even him, that was a shadow clone.

"Am I cool yet?" Naruto whispers.

"Let's find out." I whisper. I shove him. He makes a hand seal, and a shadow clone appears behind him, catching Naruto before he falls into the water.

"Sarah! How could you?!" The disbelief and betrayal could almost be felt in the air as Naruto stands back up.

"I have to admit, that was kinda cool." I say.

"Really? AWESOME! I'M GONNA BE WAAYY COOLER THAN YOU, SASUKE!" He shouts. Comically, the echo of the scream shakes the nearby village. We cover our ears quickly. Across the stream, Kakashi falls out of his tree with a thud.

"Naruto!" Sakura and Kaito protest.

"That was extremely uncool." I explain, picking up another piece of trash, and this time, tossing it at his head.

* * *

"ALL RIGHT! IM GONNA PAINT THIS HOUSE SO FAST YOU WONT EVEN SEE ME!" Naruto yells, dipping his paintbrush in red paint. Kaito and Rei each dip their brushes in paint and walk over to the structure in need of color.

"This isn't a house, it's a barn, Naruto." Rei says, in his usual bored voice.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what I meant- it's a horse house!" He explains.

"Hey, Naruto." I say. "Why don't you ask the old man if he has any more paintbrushes, and then use shadow clones?"

"Hey! Great idea! I was thinking about the same idea, except I was just gonna fingerpaint the whole thing." He laughs.

"Naruto, I have bad news. You have type A Retard Syndrome."

I dip my paintbrush in the red liquid, and then Sasuke and Sakura do the same. Naruto walks over to the owner, an older man who is sitting in a camp chair by a haystack next to Yuri-Sensei. Usually, Kakashi is late, but this time he didn't even show up. I don't really know why I'm surprised.

You know what? Why limit myself to however many paintbrushes this guy has?

"Sensei, I'll be right back."

Yuri-Sensei looks up from his book to see what I'm planning. I'm surprised he doesn't already know. "Wait, you can't just leave in the middle of a-"

"Bye!" I cut him off, shooting a chakra string into the branch of a tree. I give it a massive tug. It lifts me in the air, sending me flying towards town. Once I reach the road leading to the farm I don't stop, grabbing onto another tree and launching myself forward again.

It's basically the same thing as normal shinobi jumping, except I can go faster and farther with less effort. Why don't other ninja do the same thing? Because, since technically my soul is older than most ninja live to be, my chakra is extremely stable and survives well outside my body.

I land right in front of a supply shop, scaring the lady behind the counter.

"Oh!" She yelps. Then, she smiles. "A little Konoha genin, huh? My, I just love your silver hair... So, what can I do for you?" She asks kindly, smiling in the way that only a grandma could. I bet her cooking tastes great...

Stop getting distracted!

"Can I have twenty of your finest paintbrushes, please? Actually, make that thirty." I ask.

"Are you sure you want that many?" She asks.

"Yep!" I nod.

"I guess I won't question your ninja duties! My grandson is a ninja, you know. He tells me so many funny stories! Like about how he was chasing this cat and it mauled him and his team! His sensei needed stitches..." She seems lost in her memories for a second. "I don't have paintbrushes, but I do have these paint rollers. Is that okay?" She asks.

"Sure!" She puts them on the wooden counter. I slide a pale sheet of paper underneath and seal them all with a puff of smoke.

"You must be quite talented!" She gushes.

"Oh, thank you!"

"I'll need twenty-five coins for each."

I hold out my hand. Thanks to a seal on my palm I drew a while ago, the appropriate amount of money falls out of my palm onto the counter. "Thanks!" I say enthusiastically. This is gonna be great.

I speed back to the barn. When I arrive, there are four Narutos helping to paint the barn.

"Pleeease tell me you came up with something." Kaito begs, turning around to face me from where he's stuck to the side of the barn with chakra. His face is covered in sweat. "We just found out we have to paint two more barns!"

"What?" I ask, aghast. " I didn't sign up for this!"

"Actually, you did." Yuri waves the Mission Exceptance scroll that has all our signatures from where he is lazily sprawled under the shade of the front porch of the house. Sensei sips his lemonade. "Get to work, kiddos. Read the fine print next time."

"But Sensei, it's faaar too hot out here!" Kaito complains.

I unseal the paintbrushes, and they fly into the air. A shadow clone catches each one of them. Eight other clones puff next to me, and they run out into the forest. The come back with fans made of gigantic leaves and begin to fan us.

"Ahhh... Great idea, Sarah-chan!" Naruto says.

"Thank the fucking gods." Rei cheers.

That sounds awkward. But I guess I'm just not fully used to a culture that worships multiple gods. Well, actually, they don't really worship them. It's more like a 'good luck' thing.

My clones each give me an exasperated look. "What?" I shrug my shoulders innocently. "I'm helping too!"

The clones dip their paintbrushes in paint, and then, in true 'me' fashion, use chakra strings to begin painting the barn. Chakra strings are the ultimate lazy jutsu. I clean my room with those things, I cook with them, I even once used them to hold up a chandelier when mum walked by so I she wouldn't see that it was broken. Choji and I may have knocked it down in a horrible dishwashing accident: I thought I could toss the dishes off the dinner table frisbee style and he could catch them behind his back and then wash them. I was wrong.

"Hey, why do we even need to paint it?" Naruto asks, jumping down from the barn's roof and cracking open a can of paint. "Why don't we just dump the paint on, like this?"

Kaito and I share a look. Uh Oh. Here it comes.

All eyes were on Naruto as he walks up the side of the barn to dump the paint on the roof. "See?" He says, shifting his weight to dump the contents of the bucket. As he does, he slips on wet paint and falls backwards. The paint bucket lands on his head. "Ahh! I can't see!" He shouts, stumbling on the roof. He stumbles dangerously close to the edge. "Eergh! Ahhh!" He gasps, trying to rip the bucket off his head. Then, he reaches the edge. He totters for a second, and then, he begins his descent. In the air, he forms a familiar hand sign. A pack of his clones catches him.

"Wow. He... actually... didn't embarrass himself." Kaito says, dumbfounded.

"That's new. Is the world ending?" Rei comments. Naruto sits down, and rips the bucket off. the bucket flies away to reveal Naruto's face, completely covered in red paint.

"Oh... Never mind." Kaito says despondently.

Nobody even laughs. That's how used to this kind of thing we are.

"Come on, Naruto." I command, and I start walking to the stream. He follows me, shoulders hunched over with disappointment. His face and hair drip red all over his orange and black hoodie as we take the walk of shame.

"Hey, I want to come too!" Rei announces, as he moves to follow us.

"Naw, you don't care. You just want to stop painting." I reply over my shoulder.

"No! You've got it all wrong, I... deeply care about Naruto's well-being."

"I think you should be more concerned with the barn!" I yell in response. Naruto and I enter the thick edge of the forest, where the fields give way to a small but quick stream.

"Ready, Naruto?" I ask.

"Uh-huh." Naruto kneels down by the streambed.

"Okay," I say. "I'll dunk your head in in five, four, three-" _Dunk._ At the count of three, I dunk his head under by his hair.

"Aarhg! Aghgh!" Bubbles escape Naruto's mouth as he screams underwater. I give him a shake and then pull him back up. "Help! There's a fish on my face! Get it-mofff!"

A fish sits directly on the end of Naruto's nose, it's teeth sunk into his flesh. A small fish, an inch and a half long, silver and black, dangles from his face. I move to take it off, but then it's eyes turn on me. The fish stares into my soul, it's beady eye staring me down. ' _I will murder you.'_ The fish seems to say.

"Neh- nevermind, Mr. Fish, I'm sorry to intrude." I stumble backwards and fall onto my butt from my crouching position before, a little surprised.

"Help me! HELP!"


	39. Chapter 39: Family

Team 10, Team 15, and Team 7 stand in a circle in a clearing.

"The news I invited all of you here for, is... is... iiiiisss... -"

"Oh, come on, tell us, Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto demands.

"Oh, fine. Kakashi sighs. We have nominated all nine of you for the chunin exams. Watch out- the chunin exams are very difficult and dangerous. You could die. If you want to participate, just sign these forms. The first test is in one week. After the first test is a survival test where you will have to survive in harsh situations while being pitted up against other genin teams. Then, we will have the final test- a one-on-one combat tournament. Today, we should you all choose to participate, we are going to do everything we can to prepare you. Team Asuma already knows how to walk on water, so they are going to go practice on their own while the remaining six of you learn. Then, every day up until the test, we will practice various survival skills. Are all of you taking the test?"

All of us give various noises and grunts of assent.

"Alright then. Asuma?" Kakashi says.

"Right." He says. I wave goodbye to Choji and Shikamaru as the four of them leap away into the trees.

"Hey, Sensei?" I ask.

"Yep?" Yuri says, tucking his notebook in his waistband.

"I already know how to walk on water. Can you teach me a cool jutsu instead?"

"Really?" Sensei blinks twice. "Sarah, I'm surprised."

The other genin stare at me.

"Sure. Kakashi, will you take them away so Sarah and I can do a little one-on-one?"

"Actually," Kakashi says, "I'd like to teach her myself. Family bonding time." He eye-smiles.

 _Did I just hear him right? Family?_

"Oh... Okay. Come along, kids." Yuri shinobi leaps away, the other five genin giving me envious looks as they jump away. Then, I notice, Sasuke has a particular look about him. He normally looks serious, but today he looks extra serious. Because today is the day: to prove whether I'm trustworthy or not.

As soon as we're all alone, Kakashi puts down his book and moves to speak.

"You didn't have to do this, Kakashi." I say. "You don't have to try to make me feel better. I understand. I remember my parent's deaths, but... I wasn't actually there to see them die. If I were you, I would have killed myself long ago. You're stronger than I could ever hope to be. So just... don't feel any pressure to reach out to me, because... I understand how it feels. My parents, my friends... are in another world now too." I stand there awkwardly, shifting my weight from side to side. I don't know what it was about saying that, but... I feel a rush of emotions, like Iv'e broken down barriers that were sealed up for such a long time, because I pretended they didn't exist. But also, it feels like maybe talking about it will help. But, now isn't the time. we can chat later.

Kakashi's eye is wide, as he looks at me. Then, he softens his gaze to that normal half-lidded stare. "I feel guilty about avoiding you... more than I feel guilty about..."

Kakashi leaves it at that. I know what he must be thinking about.

"If you really want to pretend you don't exist, go ahead. But I would really like to have you in my life. I'm sure Sasuke would do anything for another clan member, to not be alone. I don't want you to feel that way. You're not alone." I say.

"I don't want to compete with Choza or Choji... I just... I can't. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, you don't even know..." A tear escapes his eye. It falls onto his green flak jacket, glistening like a star.

I run forward, and envelop him in a hug. His eye widens again, and he tenses up, barely touching me, like if he squeezes me too hard I might disappear. It feels good, but it also feels terrible. Knowing that...

None of this is real. We're in a TV show.

I can't stop thinking of him, or Choji or anyone, as a character. What if I'm never able to love Kakashi? What if I let them die? Before I know it, I'm crying too. We just stand there, holding each other for a while.

"Kakashi?" I ask.

"Yeah." He responds.

"I'm not going to die, because I can see the future. And sometimes the past. I'm so sorry about Rin, and your father, and mother, and your clan. But know this- you couldn't fail me if you tried."

"You- you know? About Rin, and Minato-Sensei? And Obito?" He gasps.

"Obito? I say, in fake surprise. Obito is dead? I'm pretty sure he's not. I saw him."

"What?" Kakashi's jaw falls through his mask and hits the floor.

"I saw him in the future. Look, I'm sorry if I brought up bad memories, I... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

Kakashi slowly backs away from me, shocked. "Does the Hokage know?" He asks.

"Yep." I say. "I proved it to him by predicting the future. But I can only see what the future would have been like if I was never born. In the future I see, Yuri is dead. Rei and Kaito joined the genin corps and weren't successful shinobi. Haku and Zabuza died during the Wave mission."

"And what about my Team?" He asks. "And me?"

"You all lived." I say. "We just have to keep it that way this time around."

He nods. A long, awkward silence pervades the clearing as Kakashi thinks things through, ideas bouncing around inside of his head.

"Well, let's start with keeping you alive. What do you want to learn?" He asks.

"A few of your favorites- Sunshin, Earth-walking, rasengsan, and Chidori."

"Those are all too advanced for you-"

"and I've practiced a few at home." I cut him off. The rasengan. I hold out my palm and focus my energy. Then, I apply more swirling bands of chakra. Nothing happens, other than a small, marble-sized flare of chakra that wobbles horribly, then disperses. "I'm trying to learn Rasengan based on watching Jiraiya. But I've only seen him do it twice, and explain it once. I can't even pop the water balloon yet."

"The Rasengan is very hard for someone without massive amounts of chakra. You're just not ready for it yet." He says.

I nod.

"But, about what you said earlier... About Obito?" He asks.

* * *

"Whoa... Whoa! Aah!" Naruto cries as he sinks once again. "Dammit!" Naruto punches the water, splashing pond water all over Kaito.

"Hey, Naruto, watch it!" Kaito yells. The splash distracts Kaito, causing him to fall into the water. "Hey! You did it again! If you're gonna keep distracting us, go practice on that pond over there." Kaito points to a pond just through a few trees.

"Alright! You know what? I will!" Naruto climbs out of the water, his pride bruised, and he storms off into the forest.

"Hey, you shouldn't have done that." Yuri scolds. "Kakashi and I were very different during our time in ANBU, but we were a great team anyway. If you can't work as a team with your other genin, I won't let you enter the chunin exams. Try encouraging him instead. I know he's hard to deal with."

"You can say that again." Sakura mumbles.

On the other pond, Naruto steps on to the surface of the water. One foot makes a wobbly connection. "Whoa... Steady there..." Naruto takes a gentle second step. Now, both his feet are on the water. He smiles. Suddenly, his concentration breaks and he falls through. Naruto climbs back onto the shore.

"Hmmm... If my clones retain memories like Sarah-chan says they do, then if one of my clones figures out how to do this, I'll remember how he did it! Great idea!" Naruto forms a cross sign with his fingers. "Shadow-Clone jutsu!"


	40. Chapter 40: Red

The **big Four- Oh. Can't believe we're here already, and my writing hasn't gotten much better. I'll be amazing by 100, I promise. ;3**

 **Thank you:**

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 **At this point, I would answer any questions you guys have or respond to reviews, had there been any. But I'll pretend there was.**

Conoreo: Conoreo, how did you get so awesome?

Conoreo: I was just born that way.

This story is to improve my writing, so pleeaasse let me know if you have any tips you want to share. Besides, by helping me, you're directly making the story better and therefore helping the readers too, making it worth the ten seconds it takes to comment. I don't really want compliments, although those are nice. If you want to roast me in the reviews, knock yourself out. But please give your reasoning for the roast. Think of the children :/

 **Iv'e noticed that the story becomes waay better if you slow down, read slowly, and imagine the character's voice as you read.**

* * *

 _ **I imagine Yuri as a mix between Shisui and adult Konohamaru, in terms of hair and facial features.**_

* * *

"What's that box?" Naruto wonders aloud. Kaito and I stop to look. A small, rectangular box with eyeholes painted to look like a rock follows Naruto from behind, matching his every move.

"What the hell? That's the dumbest disguise I've ever seen!" Naruto exclaims, pointing at the box.

"Huh! Just what I would have expected from my rival!" A muffled voice comes from inside the box. A loud bang mixed with jumbled yells as assorted colors of smoke puff into the air. The three individuals that emerged from the box cough and sputter.

"Too much gunpowder, Konohamaru!" The smallest one, with glasses, gasps.

"Yeah, I know!"

"Umm, who are you kids?" Kaito asks, pointing at the children.

Each in the trio speaks in order. "I'm Komohamaru!" "I'm Moegi!" "I'm Udon!" And now, all at once: "And when we're together, we're... The Konohamaru corps!"

"Well, I thought Rei's face was the stupidest thing in existence." Kaito says. "But I was wrong. This is definitely stupider."

"Hey, not cool. Don't bash people who aren't here." Naruto says.

"Bash? Where did you hear that word?" I ask.

"Oh, I think I heard Kakashi-Sensei say it." Naruto explains.

Aha. I'm pretty sure that only people on Earth use the word 'bash', right?

Weird. Could be a coincidence.

"You guys have fun, I think I have to go home now." Sakura says, turning down a side-street.

Once she had taken a few steps and Konohamaru had thought she was out of earshot, he leans in to Udon's ear.

"Wow, did you see how big her forehead was?" He whispers.

"I HEARD THAT!" Sakura bellows, rounding the corner, her fist cocked back already- "I'M GONNA KILL ALL OF YOU!" Sakura charges at high speed. I leap over a fence and hide in a bush while she chases the other five down the street like a rampaging buffalo. They scream as they run, kicking up dust in their wake.

Once the bull is gone, I step out into the street. Right. Left. Center. She's nowhere to be seen. Satisfied that the danger had passed, I warily turn the corner.

Oh, right! I remember this!

The Sand village kid, Kankuro, holds the Hokage's grandson up by the scruff of his neck. "He ran right into me! What an idiot!" The boy with facepaint crows.

"Nice mascara, moron!" Naruto taunts.

"Heh. Do all Sunagakure men where lipstick or are you just tryna get in touch with your feminine side?" Kaito joins in.

"You know what? I don't blame him. If I had an ugly face like that I'd be hiding it with paint too!" Naruto jokes.

Nice, guys! You've made me so proud... *tear*

"Oh, so we've got some big talkers over here, huh?" Kankuro muses. "He won't be here for a while, why don't we mess with these punks a little bit?"

"No, you know he wouldn't want us to do that. I have no part in this." Temari says, backing away to show her neutrality.

Kankuro tosses Konohamaru to the ground. Konohamaru lands with a squeak and a thud. "I'll only hurt you a little bit." Kankuro says, as he loosens the cloth wrappings on the bundle on his back that I recognize as his puppet, Crowe.

"Kankuro! You're going to use Crowe for _this?"_ Temari scolds.

The cloth falls off, revealing a beige puppet, held up by invisible chakra strings. It hovers in the air, making a stramge clicking noise with it's teeth.

"What the hell is _that_ thing supposed to be!?" Naruto shouts.

"I don't like runts, or any other scrawny weaklings. So, when wimps like you guys start running their mouth, it just makes me want to break you all in half. And I'm gonna start with this little runt." Kankuro steers his puppet over to Konohamaru.

"NO!" Naruto starts running towards Kankuro. Kankuro grabs Naruto's shoe with his chakra string and pulls, causing Naruto to trip. The Naruto that tripped puffs out of existence. The real Naruto is nowhere to be seen.

 _Crack!_

A stone shoots down from above, bouncing off Kankuro's forehead and crumbling into pieces, leaving a bloody mark. Kankuro looks around for his opponent. I feel his chakra before I see him. Naruto hangs out in a tree, right beside the sidewalk, hanging upside down on the tree limb by his feet. Sasuke sits cooly on another branch, tossing a stone up and down in his palm.

"So I guess you've got some skills, eh? Not too much for us to handle, right, Sasuke?" Naruto says.

Sasuke smiles smugly. I didn't even notice him. I can see him there, but it's almost like he's not there- he can hide his chakra that well. He's getting better. Actually, he was probably up there the entire time and nobody saw him.

" _Sasuke!"_ Sakura cheers.

"You're far away from home, kid, and you're way out of your league. Wouldn't want to hurt the Hokage's grandson- that might cause a _little_ international incident."

"Oh, great- another wimp to tick me off." Kankuro says.

"Get lost, Lipstick." Sasuke crushes the rock he was holding in his fist. A fine rock powder dribbles out between hid fingers.

"Yeah- your mommy's a few deserts away so you won't be able to cry to her when you get beat up!" Naruto adds.

"Hey, you two losers! Get down here and fight me like real ninja! You're the type of brats that I hate the most- all attitude, and no skill to back it up." Kankuro's puppet makes a clicking sound.

"Kankuro. Back off." A new voice, whispery, like sandpaper sounds. A child with red hair- and a gourd- floats on a cloud of sand, his arms folded in front of him. The kanji for 'love' is scrawled into his flesh above his left eye.

"Oh! Ga-Gaara! I didn't see you there, I mean- they started it first!" Says Kankuro, flustered.

"You're an embarrassment to yourself and our village." Gaara disassembles into sand, and then reassembles on the ground in front of Kankuro. "I apologize for anything he did while I was away. Pack up Crowe, let's go before you get into anymore trouble." Gaara turns away from the scene, walking calmly down the road as if nothing had happened. The cloth wraps itself around the puppet and it reforms the backpack shape on Kankuro's back. The three turn away down the road.

Naruto jumps down from the tree, doing a front-flip in the air. "Hold it right there! Just who are you?" Naruto points the obligatory accusative finger. Sasuke jumps down to join Naruto.

"Oh, you mean me?" Temari turns around, smiling.

"No, the guy with the red hair." Sasuke corrects her. Temari looks disappointed.

Gaara turns around to face the other genin. "I am Gaara of the desert." Sasuke's eyes widen, and I can tell he's surprised from here.

"With the red hair, and the gourd... he must be..." Sasuke whispers.

"Who are you?" Gaara asks.

"I am Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto exclaims.

"I am more interested in the boy with the black hair." Gaara corrects him.

"Aww, man. Sasuke! Why do you always gotta steal the attention?!"

"I am Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke says. "I look forward to beating- *Ahem*- meeting you in the chunin exams."

Gaara narrows his eyes. After a short staredown, the sand genin turn back around and continue down the cobblestone path..

"Well? He must be what?" Naruto demands.

"You don't need to know." Sasuke says.

I unsupress my chakra and walk around the corner. "Hey, guys!" I call, waving. "Did I miss anything?"

"Yeah, you pretty much missed everything while you were hiding behind the fence like a baby."

"Wha? Kaito..." I protest.

"Yeah, I could practically sense your fear too." Kaito says. Sasuke and Naruto look around cluelessly, while Sakura snuggles against Sasuke's shoulder, much to the Uchiha's disgust.

"So, what happened?." I say.

"Some nerds from sand land. They think they're better than us." Kaito explains.

"Sarah, we need to talk, like, right now." Sasuke pulls me aside.

"Hey! Sasuke, you mean me, right! Wait for me!" Sakura yells after Sasuke, running towards him. Sasuke and I shinobi jump into the tree and away from the pink soprano.

* * *

Sasuke and I land in someone's backyard, and as soon as we land, he shoves me to the ground.

"Why are you doing this?" He seethes. "You're trying to control me, you're giving Naruto special tips and pointers that would take years of shinobi experience to know: who the hell are you?" Sasuke pulls out a kunai.

I hold up my hand in front of him. "Sasuke. Sasuke! Stop. You already know who I am. Think about what you're doing." I say. Sasuke walks forward. "Sasuke! Look into my eyes. Stop."

Sasuke stares at me. "How did you set this up? What are you planning? How can you control those ninja? They weren't your shadow clones. Why are you pretending to read the future?"

"Sasuke! Listen to me! I'm not planning anything! We need to get stronger. I need you to believe me so we can survive!"

"Iv'e been suspicious of you from the very beginning." Sasuke pulls out another kunai. "Nobody shows up in Konoha randomly from an extinct clan without birth records and learns to be a shinobi in a few months!" Sasuke prepares to throw a kunai, and I run towards him. He moves to stab me with his kunai, but he stops as I throw my arms around him.

"I just want the best for you... and this village." I whisper in his ear. "Come on, let's go talk to the Hokage."

"The Hokage? You can't just walk in there and talk to the-"

"Yes I can." I cut him off.


	41. Chapter 41

**A combination of an exclamation mark and a question mark is called an interrobang.**

 **?!** **?!** **?!** **?!** **?!** **?!** **?!** **?!** **?!** **?!** **?!** **?!** **?!** **?!**

 **True story.**

* * *

"You'll have to leave the room, Sasuke."He says. "I trust you, but if you knew the future it might change some of the actions you take, which may have adverse effects."

Sasuke gets up and leaves the room, locking the door behind him.

"I told him too much, he though I was a spy. He was trying to defend his village, and I was trying to defend myself."

"That kid has always been a bit of a free-thinker. I think he believes me though." He chuckles.

"Why do you trust me so much?" I ask.

"I really shouldn't tell you this. It's a closely guarded clan secret. But I will anyway, even though you seem very bad at keeping secrets."

"I apologize, Hokage-Sama." I say.

"The Sarutobi Clan has a secret technique- or almost a Kekkei Genkai of sorts. Once a member of the Sarutobi Clan ages past fifty-five, they start to experience strange feelings." The Hokage takes a drag on his pipe, releasing the smoke into the air from his mouth. The smoke forms a white dragon, spiralling towards the cieling. "Soon, they realize these aren't their own feelings- they are the feelings of the people around them."

"Wait... So... you can read other people's feelings?" I ask.

"In a way." He says, vaguely. "It is a very imprecise art, and very difficult to master. Most of the time, it is very unreliable, just as emotions are. But the stronger someone is, the harder they are to read." The Hokage puffs his pipe.

"That must be very useful for dating." I joke. He chuckles.

"I never really found myself interested in that sort of thing. The village comes first, I guess."

"You're a good man, Hokage-Sama." I say. He chuckles again. "Oh!" I exclaim. "I almost forgot to tell you- I saw what the second stage of the chunin exams looks like last night." I say.

"You little cheater." He laughs again. "Tell me, what do you think the second test will be like?"

I swallow. "I don't know, it was weird. We're in some forest area, all together, and a snake-lookin' guy keeps beating us up. And then he put a black mark on Sasuke. I guess the test is to escape the snake man? Does that mean Sasuke fails?" I ask innocently.

Hiruzen stares at me. "Repeat that. You said... a snake man? Not a snake woman?"

"Actually, I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure it was a dude. Either a really ugly dude or a flat girl. They had on, like, some freaky purple eyeliner. And a really, really long tongue."

Hiruzen stares at me for a second. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why? Who is that guy?"

"That man is named Orochimaru. He was my student until he abandoned the village many years ago." He explains. "He is on a mission to live forever and learn every jutsu ever created."

"Well then shouldn't we postpone the exams if he's dangerous?" I ask. "Wait, actually, no. Because if the other villages see that we postpone an exam because of insurgents in our own village, they'll think that we're weak. Besides, we can't just let genin from other villages stay in our village for an extra month or so- who knows what they'll do?"

Hiruzen nods. "You are perceptive for a girl of only thirteen."

"So, what are we going to do then?"

"What do you suggest we do? This certainly is a serious situation. I'm glad to have someone with your skills." He asks.

"Umm... what? I'm a thirteen year old girl who isn't even a real chunin yet!"

"But you can see the future, and I can see that you have inherited the Will of Fire. Does anything important happen while Orochimaru is here that should not be changed?"

"Well... I say slowly, yeah, it's kind of an important plot point. I mean, err..."

Hiruzen gives me a funny look.

"Orochimaru intends to attack the village by manipulating the Sand Village during the chunin exams. He succeeds in releasing Gaara, the one-tails jinchuriki, on Konoha but Naruto befriends Gaara in time to stop him from attacking Konoha. This is kind of important because it's the first time all the genin really work together to defeat an enemy, and it's when Naruto realizes that words can be stronger than weapons. Also, Gaara saves Naruto and Konoha at least once in the future.

Orochimaru gets that seal on Sasuke, which we definitely want to avoid, but in order to stop him we'd need either you or Jiraya in the forest of death, but then, if you or Jiraya were in the forest then Orochimaru would trigger the attack early in the second exam rather than the third, while our two (arguably) strongest ninja are away. Besides, if we stop Orochimaru in the forest he'll know that we're on to him, so he would do something else that is unexpected, which I would not be able to predict.

So, I think the best course of action would be to let Orochimaru put the curse on Sasuke, then call Jiraya back to the village and have him fix Naruto's seal 'cause Orochimaru messes it up during the second exam. Then, secretly evacuate all of the citizens from Konoha and prepare for the attack. This time, we'll crush the Sand with even less casualties. We'll let Gaara get out of control during the third exam, and then have all the genin chase him down as before. Then, we'll have Jiraya fix Gaara's seal, which Orochimaru tampered with to allow the one-tails to escape, and the crisis will be averted. Then Jiraya can maybe stop Orochimaru's seal on Sasuke." I finish.

"You really think this would be best?" He asks. I nod. "Then, I have a few questions. Who could be arguably stronger than Jiraya or I?"

"Kakashi and Gai. That pair is ridiculously overpowered. Gai's punch when using the ninth gate literally dented the face of a God. Like, he collapsed his skull."

"A... What? Actually, I'm not going to ask. We'll get there when we get there." He smiles warmly. "So the Sand is being manipulated by Orochimaru?"

"Yes, he is posing as their Kazekage, who has actually died quite a while ago." I explain.

"Well..." The Third Hokage stands. "I will definitely consider your proposal. But for now, train as hard as you can. Tell Sasuke that I said 'good luck' in the exams."

That was definitely a dismissal. I stand up and push in my chair, and then walk through the gigantic red oak doors. Oops. Crap, I forgot to bow.

"What was that all about?" Sasuke asks.

"Uhh... it's complicated- this pedophile named Orochimaru wants your body."

" _WHAT?"_

The red doors close behind me as we walk down the hallway.

* * *

Sarah steps out of the red oak doors to Hiruzen's office, shutting them behind her.

"Stronger than me, are you, Kakashi?" Hiruzen chuckles.

A section of the wall inside the Hokage office that looked perfectly normal only a second ago fades and writhes. The Camouflage Jutsu wears off, and Kakashi steps forward. A massively unproportional sweat-drop sits in his hair.

"Oh, no, Hokage-Sama, I have no idea what she saw to make her think that."

"Looks like we should all be expecting great things from Gai soon."

"Oh, Kami- how am I supposed to match someone who can dent the face of a God? If I can't even keep up with Gai, Sarah's gonna think I'm so lame..."

* * *

"Five more laps, guys." Sensei runs in front of us, running backwards so he can not only watch us struggle to run laps around Konoha but also boast his skills in the most annoying way possible.

"Nooo, Sensei, please let us stop now! We've already done thirty and I don't wanna run anymore!" Kaito complains.

"Yeah, but if you keep running, one day you'll be as cool as me!" Yuri taunts.

"Well, since you're not very cool, I guess... (*gasp*) We should stop running then." Kaito jokes.

"Whaat? I am totally cool. Do you see these guns?" Sensei flexes his biceps, which are the size of small watermelons. "Uh. Uh." He punches the air. "Bam. Rekt."

Okay, so maybe he is a little cool. Today he totally ditched the Hyuuga attire for a sleeveless T-Shirt that has grey stripes transitioning from dark at the bottom to light at the top, and dark blue breathable gym pants. He even has a pair of cheap plastic sunglasses on, you know, the ones with the two silver beads in the frames. Now all he needs is a backwards cap that says 'swag' or something on it. He's a great Sensei, I really lucked out.

"You're one to talk about coolness, your hair makes you look like a wimp. Get those eyebrows done boy!" Yuri jokes.

"What? I don't need to get my eyebrows done... (*gasp*) I'm a strong shinobi!" Kaito responds.

"Oh yeah? Then why are you out of breath like you just ran to the autograph signing desk at a wimp convention? You're practically gasping like a fish!"

"That barely even...(*pant*) makes sense at all!"

"I'll tell you what makes no sense: why your eyebrows look so garbage boy!"

"At least they don't look as bad as Gai-Sensei's." Rei interjects.

I shudder at the thought. At least they look manly. "Are you...(*gasp*) Sure?" I puff out.

"Are they really that bad?" Kaito self-consciously strokes his eyebrows while running.

"Nah, we're just messin' with you." Yuri says. Kaito shrugs, then winces from exhaustion.

"How about we...(*gasp*) stop running...(*pant*) and go get some ice cream?" I suggest.

"Yes! My favorite team-building exercise!" Kaito cheers.

"Ah, whatever. I'm getting kinda bored anyway. Let's head in for the day."

"Yes!"

"Oh, thank God." Rei wipes sweat from his forehead.

We slow to a walk and then we walk to the nearest village gate.

"I wonder how many miles we ran today?" Kaito asks. "Well, I guess since we ran fourteen laps we-"

"We ran thirty-one laps, moron."

"Oh, right. So, twenty-one laps... Ah well, I'm too tired to math right now." Kaito says.

"Ditto." I say.

"Does anyone actually know what 'ditto' means? Like, I've heard it a few times, but I have no idea where that came from." Kaito says.

We cross the street, stepping up onto the curb. Behind us, Sensei dodges a bicyclist.

"Jesus Christ, that guy had some place to be." Yuri says, as the bicyclist furiously peddles away on his rusty orange bike.

"Sensei, where did you here that saying?" I ask.

"Hm? Oh, you said it. When I threw you through a tree the other day, remember? It sounded funny, I guess I wanted to try it out."

We walk into a market area, a large cobblestone square with shops and tents set up in the plaza. It's flanked by the tall, expensive, brick buildings that are \ common by the West Village Gate.

"Oh, okay." I point to a shop. It's a small wagon with an umbrella above it. A wooden cutout of a Popsicle stick is attached to the wagon. "Try a new place?" I ask.

"Sure, why not."

* * *

A few minutes later, we all sit on top of a grey concrete water tower, with our feet dangling off the edge.

"If you were in a hostage situation, I would save Gai-Sensei's eyebrows before I would save you." Rei's deeper, clear voice says.

"Oh yeah? If You were in a hostage situation, I would save... Sensei's hair gel before I would save you!" Kaito retorts.

"Hey now. Not cool. I paid for those Popsicles, you know." Sensei says.

"Well that's your fault!" Kaito sticks out his now-blue tongue, which makes me giggle.

"If you were in a hostage situation, I would save your mum before I would save you." Rei says.

"Touché." Kaito says. "Oh, jeez. My mum is absolutely crazy."

"Yeah, we know." I say. "What's the latest update?"

Kaito swings his legs out and then back in, making a resounding ' _dongggg_ ' against the metal tower. "So last night my mum yelled at me for at least an hour when I fed our dog late, but my watch is off by two minutes, see?" He holds out his right hand, displaying the watch. "When I tried to explain, I though she was gonna hit me."

"I don't believe you." Rei says.

"But it's true!"

"So, did she hit you?" Sensei asks.

"...yes..." Kaito admits. "...with a flip-flop."

"Oh, well that's not that bad then." I say. "It's just rubber."

"Yeah, well that 'just rubber' left a red mark on my back. It's probably still there." Kaito lifts up his shirt. There is, in fact, a faded red flip-flop shaped mark.

"Ooooh..."

"Ouch."

"Your mum's insane." Rei shudders.

"I know, right? That's what I get for living with shinobi!" Kaito laughs, rolling down his shirt. "Sarah got lucky- she got the kind, compassionate Akimichi while I'm stuck with the Sarutobi."

"Hey, at least you even have a clan." Rei says.

"True, true. How does it feel?" Kaito Sarutobi taunts Rei.

"It feels bad, but my back has never felt better and is totally flip-flop free." Rei says.

Suddenly overcome with emotion, I reach out my arms and put them around Kaito and Rei on one side, ad Sensei on the other. "Man, I love you guys." I grin.

"...Well, at least my students don't hate each other like Kakashi's. But our team has it's own problems. And by that, I mean you, Kaito. Wimp."

"Hey!"


	42. Chapter 42

**Sarah isn't, like, massively obese or anything- she's just unusual in comparison to the other shinobi. Like Naruto and Sasuke, for example, who had a 6-pack at twelve years old. I imagine Sarah at something like 170-140 pounds (Somewhere around 70 Kg). And no, I'm not just making her 'overweight' as a character flaw, because it's not really a flaw. It's a device that gives her character personality, and gives a visible link and a constant reminder that she is an Akimichi. It's like how Kakashi loves Icha Icha, or how Kaito forgets everything, or how Naruto is really, really f***ing loud and says "Ya' Know" at the end of every sentence.**

* * *

"Okay, kids." Yuri says.

It's Ten- O'Clock on a Wednseday morning- What started out as a crappy day turned to a pleasant morning as I met up with my team by the Naki river today for a little change of pace. We sit under a wooden pavilion with wood picnic tables underneath. Around the concrete floor of the pavilion is the sandy soil that neighbors a canal, now in a state of disrepair after a hundred years of use. Water slips through the decaying wooden gates that are riddled with moss. Rain splashes in the stream. There's a pebble path on either side of the canal, mostly used for bikers and people just taking walks. But not today- the rain only started thirty minutes ago while we were warming up, surprising us. The Weather Ninja were wrong again.

15% chance of precipitation, my ass. Now that I think about it, there's been a lot of rain sweeping in from the ocean over the past few weeks. I rather like it- one time, as a child, an Aunt took my on a trip to England. I grew to appreciate the cloudy skies.

Even though it's raining, it's still a beautiful day- a light wind tosses my hair around. The moisture in the air seeps into us, making sealing paper limp with spray.

Yuri places a beige sheet of paper in front of each of us on the knotted, weathered picnic tables. "Today, we are going to be using these sheets of paper-"

"This isn't a test, is it?" Kaito asks.

"Shut up, wimp. Anyway, today we are gonna find out what each of your chakras look like, and then I'm gonna try to teach each of you an epic jutsu in the five days we have left until the exams." Yuri explains.

"So, just to check, what jutsus can each of you do?" Yuri sits down on the other side of the picnic table across from Rei.

"I can do Headhunter jutsu." Rei says.

"I can do Water Pistol jutsu! Along with the academy ones, of course." Kaito says.

"Liar!"

"Sarah, your turn."

"I can make Chakra Scalpels, Shadow Clone jutsu, and I can make Chakra Strings." i say.

"Show off!"

"Well, those are probably the easiest to learn out of the five, because they don't require a chakra transformation. Using them, though, is a different story." Sensei says. "Okay- put two fingers in the center of each of your papers, and close your eyes and channel chakra into the papers when I say so. It should turn out like this." Yuri holds his hand out above the paper. There's a small whoosh of chakra, and then the paper is cut cleanly in half, widthwise. "That means my primary chakra type is Wind. And then if I do it again-" He holds his hand over the paper again. One of the halves of paper suddenly turns to ash. "That means my secondary chakra type is fire. And if I did it again, half of the remaining paper would by soaked by water, and if I did it again, it would crumple up into a ball, and if I did it again, it would separate into a thousand tiny pieces. Now, go ahead and channel some chakra into the paper."

I do, closing my eyes. When I open them, half of the paper had crumbled into dust, while the other side remained blank. Aww, man. I was kinda hoping for lightning. But, given my supposed heritage, lightning's probably my second. I look over at the other papers. Kaito franticly tries to fan out flames on his sheet, while Rei's has turned to dust as well.

"Very good. Now, find an easy jutsu that is C-rank or less from this book and tell me which one you want. Then, we can start." Yuri reaches into his backpack and pulls out a massive three-ring binder, slamming it on the table. There's absolutely no way that dissarayed behemoth could fit in that backpack. "Here you go!"

That binder is at least a foot thick. Rei opens it up, then stares in horror.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"The binder... it's not organized! By rank, chakra nature, or chakra required- anything!" Rei opens the binder rings.

"No! Rei, what are you doing?" Yuri gasps. It's too late. Laminated papers describing jutsu fly everywhere. Soon, they're all on the floor, being sorted into piles by the stubborn purple- eyed ninja. Kaito and I grab two jutsu papers and look them over while waiting for Rei to finish.

*One Hour Later...*

"Alright! I'm done!" Rei stands up and closes the book.

"Hey, sensei- can I learn this one?" Kaito holds up a Lightningstyle justu paper.

"No, you can't! You have fire chakra, remember!" Yuri says.

"Oh, right, I forgot." Kaito sheepishly puts his jutsu paper ontop of the picnic table and opens the binder again.

"Dumbass."

"What- what's this?" Rei points to the lightningstyle jutsu. 'B-Rank- Lightning Bullet Barrage.' It reads. "Are you kidding!? I left one out?!"

"Oh, sorry..." Kaito shrugs.

"Oh, I have one too." I say, handing back the Earthstyle jutsu I had picked.

Rei turns to me, furious. "Are you kidding?! Now I have to start over!"

"NO, REI, NO!"

* * *

It only took me about eight hours to learn and succeed at Earth Walker Jutsu. Minus one for lunch. That may seem like a short time, but the ten hours was just for learning it. I still need to get used to it, learn the tactics that it could be useful for, any special sub-techniques, and it'll take weeks just to fully integrate it into our daily training spars. Besides, by 'succeed' I mean succeeding in activating the jutsu, not in actually being good at it. Thankfully, the only things I'm not really good at are dieting and maybe being social.

Anyways, I walk home with both hands behind my head, satisfied with myself. I accidentally kick a pebble, and I follow it to kick it again down the street. This time, it's going to the moon, though. Just as I gather chakra in my leg to give it a good kick, I feel a presence behind me. It's too late for me to react- the strange, yet familiar chakra yanks me into an alleyway.

Once in the alleyway, the enemy shoves me onto the ground. W _hat's this?_

"Hahaha! Sarah Hatake, is it?" A ninja with a broad, circular hat and a hitai-ate from the rain village stands above me. His chakra doesn't feel foreign, though. I'm pretty sure I've met this guy before. "You're the last female of the Hatake clan! And by killing you, I'll end the Hatake bloodline and take revenge for my brother's death at the hands of Kakashi Hatake! It all ends here, little girl! Hahahahaha!"

OH, wait! I remember who's chakra that is!

"Prepare to die!" the ninja swings a short sword down at my face.

"Good evening, Iruka-Sensei." I say. "Stopping by to catch up on old times? I see your teaching methods are just as brutal as they were in the classroom."

Just as I say that, At the last second, the blade stops. The ninja smiles, and a puff of smoke envelops the rain ninja facade as the transformation puffs away. In the smoke stands Iruka-Sensei.

"I wasn't that bad of a teacher, was I?" Iruka chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck in the same way that Naruto does.

 _Naruto must have picked up that habit from Iruka-Sensei._ I realize.

"Of course not!" I say. Iruka extends his hand to me, pulling me to my feet.

"You all sure have grown up." Iruka smiles. "Even after I broke your jutsu, you were so sure of your sensory skills that you knew I would stop the blade. You didn't even flinch! Impressive."

"Is this like a preliminary test to the first exam?" I ask.

"Yeah. We wanted to test you rookies to see if you were ready for the chunin exams." Iruka explains. "I was going to test you on taijutsu and sensory skills, because those were your worst areas in the academy. It looks like you've improved- you discovered me before we even got to fighting!"

"So, have you already gotten to the other students yet?" I ask.

"Oh, I'm beating up Kaito right now, actually. Team seven is doing well. You see, I was worried that you crafty genin might warn each other about the test, so I decided that I should test everyone at once. I'm just a shadow clone, actually."

Crap. I sensed it was Iruka but not that it was a shadow clone. Fail. In my books, anyway.

"Well, you're still Iruka-Sensei, so it's still the same thing." I say.

"Thanks, that means a lot."

"Of course! I have to get back home for dinner at six-thirty, so maybe we can chat and catch up on old times for real after I'm done training for the chunin exams?" I propose.

"Sure! I'll go tell the original. See 'ya!" Iruka puffs into smoke.

I walk up the road and up the front door and into my house, without bothering to knock. I toss my shinobi vest and gear as well as my forearm guards onto the sofa, then walk to the kitchen. "Hey, mom, hey, Choji." Then, I see there's someone else at the table. "Hey, Shikamaru. What's a nerd like you doing here in the House of Awesome?" I joke.

"Oh, Shikamaru's staying for dinner tonight." Choji explains. Mom gets up and runs to a pot on the stove that had started to boil over, quickly turning the temperature down. I untie the hitai-ate around my forehead and toss it towards the living room. It bounces off a wall, then a fish tank, then a lamp, and it lands on a hook on the gear shelf.

"Sarah! Don't treat your Hitai-ate like that!" Mum scolds me.

"Mm." I make a noncomittal sound, squeezing past Shikamaru's chair to open the fridge. My hip knocks into his chair, causing his elbow to hit the chess board the two were playing on, launching pieces to fall everywhere.

"Sarah!" Choji whines.

"Oh, come on. What a drag." Shikamaru begins the long and slow process of remembering where each piece was on the board.

I look in the fridge. I reach into the cold, securing the first food in sight. A giant bowl of chocolate pudding from last night, half-eaten. Sure. Whatever. I grab it and close the door with my foot while opening the silverware drawer with a chakra string. A spoon flies out into my hand and the drawer closes itself.

"Watch out, you're gonna hit somebody." Shikamaru warns.

"Oh, and by the way, Shikamaru, check." Choji says.

"Nope." Shikamaru reaches out and switches two pieces. "Checkmate."

"Awww, man! Let's play a game of chance next." Choji whines.

I pass the table and head up the stairs, walking down the passageway to my bed. I take off my muddy, sweaty shirt and toss it into a basket in the corner of the room, then flop onto my bed.

 _I'm turning into a moody teenager,_ I realize. Oh well. At least it helps to disguise the fact that I'm actually just a really immature twenty-six year old girl.

I take off the plastic wrap ontop of the glass bowl and begin to eat the pudding.

 _This is the life I deserve._

* * *

"Thanks for the lasagna mum." Choji and I chorus as she spoons lasagna onto our plates. Shikamaru looks unsurprised- he has been around us enough to not be surprised by the massive mountain of food on our plates. Choji and I dig in.

"Choza's gonna be home on Friday." She says. "She's out with the Ino-Shika-Cho on a mission. Shikamaru's mom is busy, so Shikamaru will stay here until Friday afternoon.

"Oh, cool!" I say, absent-mindedly. "Shikamaru, I gotta show you my new jutsu."

"Oh yeah? What is it?" Shikamaru asks.

"You're learning a new jutsu? How come you never told us?" Mum asks.

"Oh, I just started this morning." I explain. "It's not that big of a deal- it's a low B-Rank. Not for power though, only for possible creative use."

"Oh, okay. Well, show us sometime soon when you figure it out." Choji says.

"Do you think you'll learn it in time for the Chunin Exams? Cause if you're gonna use it in the Exams, I'd like a sneak peek." Shikamaru says.

"Oh, I actually... Completed the jutsu already. Pretty much."

The room falls silent.

"Oh."

Hatake blood, I thank you for the gazillionth time for being great.

I set down my spoon and form four handsigns, then I melt into the floor, falling through it. They watch me, surprised and interested, until my head disappears completely. One of the big drawbacks of this jutsu- not only does it feel super weird, but you also have to close your eyes while you do it, so I have to rely on sensing to figure out where I am. Slowly, I push my body forward, not actually moving, letting the moving, fluctuating earth around me do the work. With a push, I pop up again behind mum, scaring her. She drops the pot, but a shadow jumps off of the ground and catches it just before it spills.

"Oh! You scared me." She says, picking up the pot from the quickly deteriorating shadow. "I didn't mean you should show us right now, you know it's impolite to use jutsu at the table. Except you, dear, Shikamaru. Thank you."

I take my place at the table, and Mum sits down across from me. "Honey, I didn't know you were so talented! I'm glad to have two strong young shinobi in the house."

"I'm here, that makes three." Shikamaru says.

"True." my Mum agrees.

"Shikamaru, was that Shadow Stitching you used to catch the pan?" I ask.

"Yeah, how'd you know? My Dad has been trying to get me to learn Shadow Stitching before the Exams, but I never really got around to practicing. You saw how quickly it deteriorated." He says.

"Well, it was good enough to save the lasagna for leftovers tomorrow night!" Mum gushes. She absolutely loves Shikamaru, even though he's faaar lazier than Ino. When Ino comes over, she washes the dishes and helps cook, but Shikamaru just sits there.

Shikamaru does come over, like, at least once a week, though. Ino has only come to our place... maybe once or twice that I can remember. Ino and I don't mix well- she's the kind of girl who played with dolls and was obsessed with ponies and glamour magazines and lipstick. I, however, am pretty much as far from that as someone can be. Besides, that's not all my reasons for not respecting Ino- she can't take a punch. One on one combat is not her thing, she likes to hide while her teammates do the work and then throw kunai or use jutsu from the sidelines. I'm just not that kind of shinobi, although you could argue for the effectiveness of either fighting style.

 _Why am I thinking about Ino and how she fights when I could be thinking about this lasagna?_


	43. Chapter 43: Finally, the Chunin Exams

"Sarah, will you help me today?"

"Wha... Wha?" I blearily open my eyes. Choji stands in my doorway. "Choji, knock first! I'm not dressed!" I scold him, pulling the covers up to my chest.

"It's not like you're naked or anything!" He says, in his defense.

"Well I don't want anyone close enough to know if I'm naked or not while I'm asleep!"

"Okay, I'm sorry. Breakfast is downstairs. I saw that jutsu you did last night and I just want a little advice, that's all. It's not like I'm a criminal."

"You wanna go, Choji? I sentence you to death for waking me up early." I say. He winces. "What time is it?" I ask. He winces again. Something's up. I roll over to check the clock.

"You woke me up two hours early!? Are you suicidal!?"

A few minutes later I find myself downstairs, a grey shirt barely on, uncombed silver hair carelessly tossed down my back.

"Oh, it's nice to see you up so early!" Choza kisses the top oh my head and whips a tie around his neck.

"G'morning Mum, goodmorning dad." I yawn. "What's up with the suit?" I ask.

"Oh, I have a meeting about the Chunin Exams today!" He says. "I hope you two are ready! Sarah, I heard you learned Earthwalker Jutsu in one day. I'm proud of you." He says.

"Thanks, Dad." I say. Choji gives me a bit of an envious look. "You should let Choji and I learn one of the Clan Jutsu. I think Choji already knows Human Boulder." I say.

"How'd you know that?" Choji asks. "I never showed you."

"I'm good at knowing things." I say. "So, are we going to train or did you wake me up for nothing?" I say.

"Oh, you're going to train with Choji? That's great!" Mum says.

"Hmm." I make a noncommital sound as I push Choji out the back door.

"So, do you have any ideas?" Choji asks.

"Well, umm... I dunno. Maybe you should just ask Asuma-Sensei to train you guys extra hard." I say.

"Asuma-Sensei doesn't teach us any jutsu. He's always telling us to revisit the basics and stuff." Choji complains.

"Kakashi-Sensei barely uses any unique jutsu when we're fighting unless it's a really difficult battle." I say. Yuri likes to drill us on the basic three academy jutsu- a while ago, we defeated a thug encampment with only the Replacement Jutsu and no weapons or taijutsu whatsoever, forcing us to come up with creative ways to lure thugs under barrels and then dump the barrels on their heads or appearing suddenly and tripping them or causing them to smack into each other. It took a while- eventually, Sensei just flattened the entire area with a massive mudslide because he was starting to get bored. That's a thing now, apparently- Sensei gets bored, even during the most difficult battles. Then he pulls out the most flashy, ridiculous, chakra-wasting jutsu you could ever think of and ends the battle in a few miliseconds.

Kakashi-Sensei is not like this at all, conserving his chakra perfectly in the case of new enemies and not taking any chances. I suppose that, since both are elite jonin, Yuri does the same but decides to have fun with it, no matter how chakra-exhausted or how many days he's bedridden afterwards. it says something about how much he trusts in Team 15's ability.

Choji and I spar for a little while, but I'm really just going through the motions. Taijutsu really isn't my thing, but Choji is even worse than I am.

* * *

"Alright, guys. Today, we're going to do a mission. A D-Rank, then we'll practice your Jutsus." Yuri says, and we hit the road.

As we walk to different places, sometimes I'll fling sticks off the path with chakra strings or uproot a roadsign or a small dead tree or something, just because I'm bored. Another game we play on the road is that we try to pick up rocks, suppress our chakra, and sneak little rocks into each other's backpacks, slowly adding weight to each other's packs as a prank while practicing chakra suppressing, sensing, and stamina at the same time.

On multiple occasions I'll be walking in front of Kaito on a single-file trail, and, at lunchtime, I'll open my backpack only for a few pounds of stones and rocks to fall out. It might sound crazy, but when you're walking twenty miles a day and the weight is only increasing pebble by pebble, it gets pretty heavy. This is a repeated occurrence for all of us. If you try to sneak one into Sensei's backpack, he'll pretend not to notice and, later, while you're not paying him attention, he'll throw it at you. So I guess we improve our dodging skills as well. This is only one of the little games we play while bored on the road.

Every time somebody asks, "Are we there yet?" We respond with, "We're almost there- just fifteen more minutes, around that corner.". This works best on Naruto, because he gets exited for a moment before he realizes we're joking.

* * *

"This sucks. Why am I doing this again?" I wonder aloud.

"So you can be there to support me when I become a chunin." Kaito says. I sigh. Honestly, I feel pretty ready for the chunin exam. All three of us have basically worked out the kinks in our jutsus that we learned in the past week, and our teamwork has improved drastically.

I can't say the same for Team 7- Naruto is a little better than I remember him being in the original series, and I hope it was because of me. Now that Naruto is more levelheaded and 'cool', Team 7's teamwork is a little better because Sasuke and Sakura respect him more. Although I'm worried about Sakura. She's the weak link, which is too bad, since she's actually kinda nice when you get past all the fangirl stuff. But she doesn't even know a single non-academy jutsu, making her the weakest rookie this year. Oh well.

Yuri stops in front of the door to the Academy. "Well- I'll leave you guys here! Good luck on the first exam!"

"Thanks, Sensei!" We walk into the lobby. 'Room 301', A sign says. We walk to the stairs and climb up to the third floor, where there's another sign and a door. We walk through.

"Hey, guys, one more thing." Yuri says.

"Yeah?"

"I'm proud of you guys."

"Thank you, Sensei!"

"Oh, and by the way, Sarah- Kakashi wanted me to give you this."

Sensei hands me a dark gray facemask that covers only the bottom of my faces like Kakashi's.

WHY COULDNT HE GIVE IT TO ME HIMSELF? KAKASHI, YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE NOW!

"Sarah? Is there something wrong?"

A few people turn to look at us as we enter, but don't pay too much attention to us. There are thirty or so contestants in the hallway, all crowded around one door. We push our way to the front of the crowd. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura stand in the middle. "Oh, and, while you're at it, disable the genjutsu. We're going to the third floor." Sasuke is saying.

"Well, well, so you noticed the genjutsu, huh?" One of the genin guards standing by the door says. The three flights of stairs we just climbed turns into two, and the sign above the door that says '301' now says '201'."Well, let's see you deal with this!" the genin does a cartwheel and brings his leg down at incredible speeds against Sasuke. Sasuke prepares to block the attack, when, suddenly, in a flash of green, Lee appears in the middle of the two fighters, catching each one's attack. I barely even saw him move. Holy crap, that guy is fast.

The genin jerks his leg away and Sasuke steps back.

"Lee! I thought you said we should keep a low profile and not show our ability level!" Tenten and Neji run up to Lee.

"I am sorry! I-" Lee suddenly stops. Lee walks up to Sakura. "My name is Rock Lee! Please be my girlfriend!" He says, enthusiastically.

"Definitely. Not!" Sakura says, bewildered, depression lines on her massive forehead.

"Why?" Lee asks.

"Uhh... cuz you're a weirdo." Sakura says. Lee gains a curtain of depression lines.

"Aww, man!"

I take my chance to walk up to the door guards. "So, can you let us in now?" I ask.

"Hi Izumo! Hi Kotetsu!" Kaito chirps beside me. "Remember me? I'm that guy from a while ago when you were on gate guard duty and you found a flaming chipmunk in my backpack."

People around us look at us like we're insane. "Don't ask." I say. "Some crazy sh*t happens to our team."

Ohh yeah, that's right! The guards are actually Izumo and Kotetsu! How did I manage to forget that?

Izumo and Kotetsu hold a up their index and middle fingers, and, with a puff of smoke, they turn into two tall adult chunin. "Well, it looks like we've been found out." Izumo says. Another round of muttering goes through the crowd of candidates.

"I think the exams are gonna be fun this year." The two walk down the hallway to an elevator.

"Maybe for us, but not for them!"

Neji walks over to Sasuke. "Hey, you. Over there. What's you're name?" Neji asks, pointing at Sasuke.

"I am not obliged to answer that." Sasuke says.

"He just doesn't want to tell you his name because it's obvious that _you're_ a waste of _our_ time." Naruto buts in.

Fires light in Neji's eyes. " _What_ did you just say to me?" He says, angrily.

"Excuse me, Neji, Sasuke. You're standing right in front of the door." I say, shoving them both to the side and walking between them, into the stairwell. My team follows me.

"That was rude. Who is that girl?" Neji says.

"Isn't she that Hatake kid everyone was talking about a while ago?"

* * *

Hopefully, that poked another small hole in Sasuke's overinflated ego. Over the time I've known him, Iv'e been kinda continually embarrassing Sasuke as much as I can to cut his ego down to size. It looks like it's working, a tiny bit, although he does seem slightly more hostile to me.

We enter a cavernous room filled with other candidates from tons of different villages. And they're all staring directly at us.

"Umm... Hi?"


	44. Chapter 44: You

**Song Recommendation: "Mr. Brightside" By The Killers**

 _\- I know you think it's not worth your time to go and take the two seconds of your day that it takes to look it up on youtube but I promise_

 **It's worth it**

* * *

"Hey! Kid with the attitude. Hold on a moment." Lee shouts from the balcony of a training dojo. The green spandexed ninja jumps down from the balcony and lands in front of Sasuke. "My name is Rock Lee. It's nice to meet you... Sasu-ke Uchiha."

"So, you know me?" Sasuke says.

Lee forms a fighting stance. "Everyone always talks about how great the Uchiha Clan is. I, Rock Lee, challenge you to a fight to see if it is true!"

"I'll teach you about the greatness of the Uchiha Clan the Hard Way!" Sasuke falls into a fighting stance, ready to receive the challenge.

"Hold it!" Naruto yells. All three look to the blonde. "Don't let pride get the best of you, Sasuke! Back off! We can't let him see your techniques."

A pause, as Sasuke makes his decision.

"Well well. When did you become the smart one?" Sasuke says to Naruto, turning back around to join his teammates. "Looks like you're not getting your fight... for now. I'll just have to educate you during the exams." Sasuke says to Lee, and the three walk away towards the exit of the dojo.

* * *

We burst into a large, cavernous classroom, followed by Team 7. Man, those candidates look tough. My eyes sweep around the room, checking out the competition. There's Gaara. I suppress the urge to wave to him. Where's Choji?

Looks like Team 7 were the last to come in- I hear an invisible shinobi lock the door behind us. I don't think anyone else noticed except Kaito, who is an impressive sensor, among other things, watches the invisible proctor walk all the way back to the front of the room.

"Oh, Sasuke!" Ino screeches, throwing her arms around him. "Where've you been? Boy, have I missed those brooding good looks of yours..."

"Back off, porker! He's mine!" Sakura yells.

"Don't yell too loud, your big forehead might fall off!" Ino retorts.

Rolling my eyes, I walk past the two bickering morons. "Hey, Choji. So you discovered the genjutsu?" I ask, casually.

"Actually, Shikamaru did." He says. "Did you pack any extra barbecue chips? I accidentally ate mine on the way here."

"You know I only like salt an' vinegar." I say.

"Hey, it's you guys." Shikamaru finally joins the group.

"Oh, so all three stooges are here!" Naruto jokes, pointing at Shikamaru's Team.

"This one's especially stupid." I say, punching Choji in the shoulder.

"Hey!"

"What a waste of time, this is all such a drag."

"Well, well, whaddya' know? Looks like everyone made it!" Kiba walks up, flanked by Shino and Hinata.

"Ah... Hi, Naruto." Hinata says, slightly hiding behind Kiba. She blushes horribly.

"Hey, Hinata."

"You guys too, huh? Man, it looks like the whole gang is here." Shikamaru says.

"Yeah, this is gonna be fun!" Kiba says. "At least... for those of us who can make the cut, right, Sasuke?"

"Be careful what you say, Kiba. I might have to neuter you." Sasuke warns.

"We've been training like crazy. We're gonna destroy you guys!" Kiba says.

"What do you think we've been doing, playing with puppies?" Naruto says. "You don't even know what training means!"

I decide to back him up. "It's not his fault that he doesn't know what 'training' means- his first language was 'Woof', not English." I say. Naruto and I share a high-five.

"I- I'm sorry Naruto- I'm sure Kiba wasn't trying to be mean." Hinata says nervously.

I feel a chakra approaching. It feels a little off, walking towards us. I turn my head. It's Kabuto.

I feel the urge to kill him right now, when he doesn't think anyone knows about him. I put my hand behind my back. A chakra blade grows out of the knuckles of my enclosed fist.

"You guys might wanna keep things down a little. I mean, you're the twelve rookies, right? Cool it. This isn't a class field trip, the chunin exams are a big deal."

The chakra blades retract. I can't kill him yet.

"Well who asked you?!" Ino shrieks. "Who even are you!?"

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi. I'm a friend. I'm from the Leaf Village too." He points at his headband. That seems awfully suspicious. But maybe I only think that because I already know why he's here. "But look around you- you've made a lot of enemies already." Kabuto says.

We glance around the classroom. People look at us with evil sneers, thinking we're easy prey. They're in for a nasty surprise- most of those kids won't even make it to the second exam.

"This exam makes everyone tense. You don't want to rub them the wrong way." Kabuto explains. "But, I mean, you're just rookies. You don't know how things work yet. Well, I guess you're lucky you have someone so experienced to give you a few tips."

"This isn't your first time?" Sakura asks.

"No, actually... it's my sixth. I've taken the exams six times over three years. This'll be the seventh time I'm taking the exams."

"If it's your seventh time, you must be _very_ experienced." Sasuke says.

"You must be an expert! You can give us all kinds of hints!" Naruto says.

"Some expert- he's never even passed!" Shikamaru says. "But I guess the rumor about the exams being tough are true, huh? What a drag."

"Hey, well the past three years haven't been entirely wasted- I have these ninja info cards." Kabuto pulls stack of orange cards. "I have over two-hundred of them with information about everyone here- including you guys, of course. Got anyone in mind?" He asks.

"I do." I say, stepping forward.

"Who would you like to learn about?" He asks.

"How about Naruto Uzumaki?" I ask.

"Hey! Whaddya wanna know about me!" Naruto complains.

To see if they know if you're the nine-tails jinchurriki.

"Okay..." Kabuto pulls out two cards. "Well, I'll start with Naruto. He is a descendent of the Senju, and the Uzumaki. He knows the Shadow Clone technique, he's fairly good at taijutsu and ninjutsu but sucks at genjutsu. His mission experience is twenty D-Ranks, two C-Ranks, and one A-Rank as a genin, pretty impressive. And... maybe I shouldn't say the rest out loud. It might compromise his safety."

"Whaddya mean, compromise my safety!"

So they do already know.

"So, who's next?" Kabuto asks.

Sasuke steps forward this time, giving me a weird look, as if to say, 'He's your friend! Shouldn't you know him?' "Do those cards of yours have info on everybody here?"

"They might. Got someone else in mind?" Kabuto asks.

"I might." Sasuke says.

"Sasuke, stop being such a smartass!" Naruto chides him. Ino and Sakura give him death looks. "What?"

"Well, I've got info on just about everyone. Including you guys, of course." Kabuto says.

"He's Gaara of the Desert. And Rock Lee from the Leaf Village while you're at it." Sasuke says.

"Aww, you already know their names? That's no fun." Kabuto pulls two cards from the deck. "Rock Lee's first- a second year genin, student of a jonin named Gai. He's very good at taijutsu, but not very good at genjutsu or ninjutsu. He did eleven C-Ranks and forty-six D-Ranks over the past two years. In the last twelve months, his taijutsu ratings have gone through the roof. For some reason, he didn't participate in the chunin exams last year. His teammates are Tenten and Neji Hyuuga. That's all." Kabuto replaces the card into his deck.

"Next up, Gaara of the Desert. It's his first time at the chunin exams. For mission experience, he's done five D-Ranks, Twenty C-Ranks, and get this- one B-Rank. I know that's not that impressive compared to an A-Rank, (Naruto snickers) but he came back after the mission without a single scratch. In fact, he's never even been injured. Nobody knows what his jutsu is like, because no-one other than his comrades have survived it. Other than that, there's not a lot of information on this guy."

"You're telling me this guy has never even been hurt?" Shikamaru says, impressed.

Kabuto pulls out another card, a diagram of the major shinobi lands. "All of the villages have sent their best genin. The Leaf has the most candidates this year, but just barely. Although, the village I'm most interested in this year are definitely the Sound village. They're quite small and they just sprung up recently, so nobody knows anything about them. They're a mystery." Kabuto puts his deck of cards back into his pocket.

"How tough do you think it's gonna be?" Sakura asks.

"It looks like this year, the exams are gonna be really hard. Out of all the exams I've taken, I've never seen such a strong group of candidates." Kabuto stands.

"Well, that's only 'cuz I'm here!" Kaito says.

"Now you're starting to make me lose my c-confidence." Hinata says.

"Well, it's too late now!" Ino says.

"That's right- they've already locked the doors. We can't leave." Kaito says.

Everyone just kind of stands around for a moment, looking around at the other candidates.

"Don't worry, guys!" Naruto suddenly yells, a little bit too loud. "We can do this! We're from the Leaf Village, and we're not gonna go down easily!" Naruto coils his fist tight. "You can't just give up now, we haven't even started our real careers yet! Just you watch- I'll leave a legacy on this world, whatever it takes!" Now, he turns to the other candidates. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! But this won't be the last time you hear of me. By the time my time is done on this Earth, everyone will know my name!"

Suddenly, I feel inspired. The other Leaf genin seem inspired too, a little more confident after Naruto's speech.

"You got some big dreams, kid." A rain shinobi from the crowd of ninja says. "I used to be that way too. But then, I met Reality." A few people chuckle, good-naturedly.

Well, I guess not everyone here is a bloodthirsty killer.

"Hey, Naruto! You're too loud!" Sakura smacks him, and then gives me a nervous look to see if I'm going to do anything. I just watch.

"What an idiot." One ninja says.

"Well, at least he's got passion." Another comments.

After a few moments, the chatter of the shinobi turn away from Naruto as people resume their hushed conversations. Suddenly, I feel a burst of chakra from the crowd of ninja. Somebody's planning a move.

Two ninja jump into the air, one in front of and one behind Kabuto. The first throws kunai at Kabuto, which he dodges, which places him right in the path of the second Sound ninja, Dosu, who swoops in with a punch from his right arm. Wow, he's fast. The anime doesn't give justice to the speed of shinobi.

A chakra string just barely reaches him in time. Four strings grab on to the vibration device on his arm, and I throw his heavy body against the wall hard. He lands with a heavy thud.

"Dosu!" His teammate jumps over to him, but I stand in the way. Invisible strings attach to Dosu's collar, and I lift him off his feet into the air, choking him. I put my index finger under his chin while I lift him, making it seem to all the people who can't sense the chakra strings (which is probably pretty much everyone) that I'm lifting him with one finger.

I lower my voice. "Do Not Touch my comrades, or I'll break so many of your bones, you'll have to retire as a genin. Permanently. Got that, Mummy-face?" I toss him to the ground. Everyone stares in silence. And I mean everyone.

His teammates run over to him. "You don't know who you're messing with." The other guy in his squad says, cracking his knuckles. Dosu gasps for air, the visible portion of his face pale.

"What, are you gonna shoot a little breeze at me through those tubes in your arms? Cause' it looks like you're all full of hot air."

"What the- how did you know?" He asks.

"I'm good at knowing things. In fact, I know exactly why you're here. You aren't here to become a chunin, are you? You're after someone in this room, and I know who it is."

He looks at me in shock, and even Kabuto seems a little surprised. "Who the hell are you?" Dosu's teammate asks.

I smile. "Just someone who's a little smarter than you think."

I turn back around, even though I can feel the eyes of the entire room on me.

"Thanks! You really saved my neck there." Kabuto says, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I probably could have dodged that hit, you didn't have to show your technique like that, whatever it was. I mean, it's not that I'm not grateful, it's just that-"

"ALRIGHT, YOU BABY-FACED MORONS!" Two doors burst open, drawing the attention of all the genin. In the doorway stands the torturer Ibiki, flanked by chunin exam proctors. One is Ebisu. "THERE WILL BE NO VIOLENCE UNLESS A PROCTOR HAS ALLOWED IT. UNDERSTAND? MY NAME IS IBIKI MORINO, PROCTOR OF THE FIRST EXAM."

Great. We've got a drill sergeant over here.


	45. Chapter 45: Better

**Thanks everyone so much for all the reviews and views! I'm at around 15,000 views now and I know thats barely anything compared to most stories but it still means a lot to me. I'm not gonna give up on this story even if only one person is reading it I'm gonna see it through to the end, because what I lack in plot building and writing skills I'll make up for by being unique by actually finishing the story without "finishing the story" and tacking on a lame sequel. To be honest, everyone's looking for validation, and so am I. I'm glad that someone cares.**

* * *

"Everyone, form a line and come up to get a number. This number will determine where you will be sitting." Ibiki says. Ushered into a line by proctors, we form a giant snake, circling almost all the way around the classroom. After waiting in line for about twenty minutes, I finally make it to the front of the classroom. Ibiki hands me a small, white tile with the number '45' on it. I wind through the classroom, looking for desk 45. I finally find the desk and sit down next to a kid around my age, who looks nervous. He looks over to me, and, hoping to intimidate, I give him a death glare. He gulps nervously. Under my mask, I smile. I had no Idea I was that scary. It must be the Hatake mask that does it.

Once we're all sitting down, a proctor hands out the test, upside down. Ah, just like the academy tests. And, just like the academy tests, I put my head down. I already know the rules- I have to cheat to pass. What's the harm of a little nap?

When my eyes snap open, I suddenly sit upright in terror.

"Forty-four! Fail!" A proctor to my right yells. The poor kid, the one sitting next to me, stands up and leaves, jittering.

"Seventy-two! Fail!"

"Twenty-one! Fail!'

Four, Six, and Fifty-nine! Fail!"

People are getting called out all around me. I frantically look to the clock. I was asleep for forty-five minutes! Crap! Ah well, no big deal. The guy in front of me starts writing, and an idea occurs to me. I hook a chakra thread to his pencil, and the other end of it to mine. As his pencil moves, mine does with it. Excellent. Once all of the answers are copied down, I risk a look towards Choji. He has his head down, asleep, so I guess he finished already.

I look to Naruto and Sasuke. Since Sasuke doesn't have his sharingan yet, he can't just copy the writing, so I'm a little worried about him. Sasuke is wearing glasses, and I'm guessing he's using the reflection of the glass on the insides with his naturally superior Uchiha eyesight to see the paper of the guy behind him. Nice. I can't tell how Naruto did it, but he's sitting back with his hands behind his head, a smug smile on his face. I guess he did alright. A few people look like they're having trouble, and since I want as many people to pass as possible so it'll be easier to get a scroll in the second exam, I pick up their pencils with chakra threads and copy down the answers. Excellent. Now, I can go back to sleep.

"YOU"RE RELAXED ENOUGH TO SLEEP, HUH LITTLE GIRL!?" A hand slams down on my desk and I jump, looking up at Ibiki's enraged face. "If you're not gonna take this seriously, maybe I should just make the exam harder!" His face quickly switches back to neutrality as a few people snicker at my misfortune. Ibiki disappears and reappears at the front of the room.

"Now. For the Tenth Question. I'll give you a choice- you can take the tenth question, and if your whole team gets it right, all of you pass. However, if one f your team members gets the question wrong, your entire team will be barred from taking the chunin exams ever again. Because of this harsh rule, I'll give you the opportunity to bow out now and just take the exam next year. If you would like to, raise your hand now."

"Hey, but that doesn't make any sense!" Sakura stands up and shouts, in the first row. "A bunch of people here also took the exams last year!"

Ibiki laughs. "Well, you guys just got unlucky. I wasn't the proctor last year, but now I am. I make the rules."

Sakura gulps nervously and sits down.

"Anyone want to bow out now before it's too late?" Ibiki asks.

A silence.

"I'm sorry! It's just not worth the risk! I'm out." A kid a few rows behind me says, holding his hand high in the air.

"Marcus, what are you doing?" His teammate asks.

"Numbers sixty-six, twenty-seven, and fifteen! Fail!" A proctor calls. All three students get up to leave.

A silence.

"Anyone else? Or are you guys even stupider than you look?" Ibiki asks.

"I'm sorry!" A trembling hand goes up. Then more. Then a few more.

"Eighty two! Fail! Forty-nine! Fail!" Numbers are called out by proctors until suddenly great swathes of ninja are walking out of the room defeatedly until suddenly, a loud, hollow bang echoes around the room. Naruto stands up.

Sakura stands up, a sad smile on her face. "Don't worry Naruto, it's okay! It's okay if you're not strong enough now, we can try again next year. It's no big dea-"

"Are you kiddin' me?" Naruto growls. "Are ya kiddin' me?!" He turns around and points to the leaving candidates. _"You_ guys made it to genin? _You_ call yourselves ninja?" He pauses.

"It's not worth the ris-" One of the leaving shinobi says, but Naruto savagely cuts him off.

"YOUR JOB IS TO TAKE RISKS!" Naruto yells suddenly.

"YOUR JOB is to take risks to insure that YOUR village remains at peace! If your mission is to run into a dangerous situation and you know nothing about the enemy, you do it! Because it's your mission! I don't care if I am a genin for the rest of my life, because I'll _still_ be STRONGER THAN YOU even if you are a jonin!" Naruto folds his arms and sits back down. "Losers."

Chattering spreads across the room like a wildfire, and some students who were getting up to leave go back and sit down at their seats defiantly. For the rest of the genin still sitting down, their confidence was reaffirmed.

"Wow, quite a speech. Anyone else want to run and live to fight another day?" Ibiki asks.

"I'm not going _Anywhere!_ " Naruto replies.

"Alright then. I guess I'll just have to tell you that... You all passed the first exam. Congratulations."

Sweet. Now I can go back to sleep.


	46. Chapter 46: Believe it!

**I think we all need to just take a moment to remember how utterly great chapter 36 was.** **If anyone gets the reference of the title of that chapter, please notify me immediately.**

"We're home, ma! We passed our first exam!" Choji and I yell together as we stumble into our home, holding hands and sharing a giant smile. Of course, they can't see mine, as it's hidden under the mask.

Mom runs up to us and gives us both a huge hug. "Congratulations! That's awesome! I knew you guys could do it! Let's go out to dinner tonight to celebrate!"

"Thanks, mom! And if you don't mind, we invited Naruto over to celebrate. He passed too." Choji says.

We step aside, and Naruto stands there, his hands behind his head. "Hiya!"

"Oh! Naruto, come on in." Mom says.

"No, no, it's okay! Look, I've got dinner at home. I don't want you to spend all that money on me. Thanks for the thought though!" Naruto turns around to leave.

I catch his sleeve and drag him inside. "Nice try, dummy."

"Do you need to change before we go?" Mom asks.

"Nope."Choji says.

I pull at the black short shorts I'm wearing with my black ninja coat today. "Ninja outfits must be comfortable as possible so that there should be no extra distractions like itchy sweaters or uncomfortably hot jackets when in battle." I say, reciting Ebisu-Sensei's words.

"Whatever you say, my little ninja." Mom says. Naruto, who is standing in the kitchen, is green with envy.

"I will take off this mask, though." I say, flinging it onto the gear rack. "All set."

* * *

"Name?" The chunin behind the desk asks. It's Genma.

"Hi Genma! You don't remember us?" I ask.

"Oh, come on. You have to remember. You know. Flaming squirrel?" Kaito reminds him.

"Ohhh, that's right!" Genma chuckles, writing our names down on his sheet of paper. "How could I ever forget?"

"So, Genma, i heard it's two-for-one day at the scroll booth today. Can we have our first scroll be heaven and the other one be earth please?" I joke.

He hands over a heaven scroll, smirking. "Sorry, kids, we're low on stock right now. The deal just ended."

"Ah, damn, we were too late." Kaito takes the scroll and fits it into his backpack. "I knew we shouldn't have had breakfast at Osaki's."

"No, that was fine! We would have been early if Sarah hadn't insisted on having seconds." Rei says.

"And thirds." Kaito adds.

"And fourths."

"And fifths."

"And sixths"

"And sevenths."

"And ordered two boxes to-go."

"Hey, what is this? National pick on Sarah day?" I joke.

"No, it's two-for-one day. Haven't we been over this?" Rei responds. I roll my eyes.

"Well, at least you kids aren't nervous. Have a good time out there, and don't die. Remember not to open the scroll until the mission's over." Genma says.

"Thanks Genma!" We say as we walk out of the tent. The next group enters.

"Hurry it up, morons! We don't have all day!" Anko Mitarishi calls. We walk over to Team Ten. I start to feel a little nervous as I pass the man I know is actually Orochimaru.

"How can you guys be so relaxed?" Ino asks.

Kaito shrugs. "Maybe because we know we can kick your asses."

"Hey, Kaito, knock it off. I know there's only one jutsu you can do, and you can't even do it. Sarah told me the story a while ago, it must have been so embarrassing." says Shikamaru.

"The only thing embarrassing here is your hairstyle, pineapple head." Kaito jokes. I can't help but to snicker. In a few moments, Team Seven joins us.

"You guys ready for this?" Naruto asks. We nod.

"Yeah, I'm feeling confident." Kaito says.

"Hey, Naruto, I have to ask- how did you get the answers on the first part of the exam?" I ask.

"You know, I've been wondering that myself." Sakura says. "How did you do it?"

Naruto shrugs, as if it was the easiest thing in the world. "Oh! That's simple. All I had to do was make a shadow clone while we were in line. I've been practicing them so that they make less smoke. I made him disguise as a ninja, then, I made him cut to the front of the line to make sure he got a number. He sat down and cheated in a super obvious way, and the proctors disqualified the clone. Then, my clone walked out into the hallway and popped, and all the memories from the clone came back to me! Then, I just wrote down the answers."

"Hey, that's really smart, Naruto! Way smarter than what we did." Choji says.

"Yeah, same here. I heard the first part might be a math based test so I studied really hard last night and figured out the answers." Sakura agrees.

"Yeah, same here- for us, Sarah just used her chakra strings to find out the shapes of the answers, and then copied them down on our papers." Kaito says.

"Whoa. So you're telling me that out of all nine of us, Naruto had the best plan?" Rei asks. Everyone looks at each other. Naruto gives us a blinding smile and a giggle, his hand rubbing his neck.

"Who woulda' thought? Back in the academy, he was such a retard. What happened?" Rei says.

"Alright, you lot of babies! Follow one of these chunin guides, he'll take you to the entrance of the forest." Anko commands.

"See ya' guys around." I say. I walk over to Choji. "If you need extra food, you know how to find me." I say. A small, silver lizard pokes it's head out of Choji's pocket. it's a shadow clone.

Choji nods. "Bye, Sarah. See you on the other side!"

"Yep!" I say. We pick a chunin without a team and follow him to a gate.

"Gate twenty! You'll be entering the forest from here. The safe house is about ten kilometers from here, straight in, at the center of the forest. You need to bring both a heaven and an earth scroll to the safe house in no more than six days. Got it?" The chunin asks.

"Got it." We give him a thumbs up.

After a few minutes of waiting around and doing nothing, an alarm wails. The chunin flicks a lever, and the gate opens. We're off. I unseal a few bars of chocolate and start eating. Gotta keep my energy up in case I have to fight. I roll my eyes at the thought. Who do I think I'm kidding? Mmm, chocolate.

* * *

"Hey, Kaito, you sense anyone?" Rei asks. We've been walking for an hour and we haven't even seen a single person yet. However, we have seen some of the lovely flora and fauna in the area, including a very sick-looking snail, a few massive insects, a bird with a barbed beak, and countless other horrifyingly dangerous plants and animals.

"I told you, I'd tell you if I did sense someone." Kaito says, slightly annoyed.

Let me clue you in on the Forest of Death, the place of our second test- the forest of death is only one of the lighter sections of a ring of terrifyingly evil forest land that surrounds Konoha, which was created by Hashirama Senju and his pal Madara as a natural defense around the village. Hence the name, village hidden in the leaves, because, of course, it is hidden inside a ring of insanely awful and dangerous dark forest that keeps out unwanted visitors. The only way to survive entry to the Village Hidden in the Leaves is by one of the two roads, west or east. Or you could climb over the Hokage monument, (speaking of which, it looks nothing like it does in the anime or manga) which is a retarded idea worthy of Naruto. Anyway, this prevents armies from attacking Konoha, because they would have to funnel down the two roads, which are riddled with all sorts of traps, gags, and tricks that brutally murder people. The only way to get in other than those roads is through the thicket of lions, poisonous plants and gases, panthers, giant insects, snakes, bogs, and quicksand. Inside the ring lies a much nicer, happier forest, and inside that is the actual city. Outside the forest barrier, the entire land of fire is mostly one giant forest except for the volcanic areas of the north mountains but eh.

We continue to walk towards the center of the map, just because that's probably what everyone else is doing to get a scroll, so we'll have a better chance of meeting someone.

"You think we should speed it up?" Rei asks.

"Nah, we've got six days. We're good on time." I say, relaxing my hands in my pocket.

"That's what you say now, before we all get injured and we lose our scroll."

"You know, I have an idea." I say. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Around us, twelve Kaitos, twelve Reis, and twelve Sarahs appear. I send them off with a hand signal and they sprint away into the forest. "If someone pops them, I'll know where they are."

"Good idea."


	47. Chapter 47: Danzo's Treachery

"Down here, Kakashi." Kakamo says. Kakamo and his son Kakashi descend a ladder into a large, well-lit basement.

"What are we doing here, Dad?" Kakashi asks. Hatakes mill about, finding seats in plastic chairs. At the front of the room is a large stage with a Hatake Clan banner above.

"Today, we're gonna save the Hatake Clan. Be cheerful!" He responds. Kakashi nods silently. They are directed to a seats at the front of the crowd, where Sakimi is waiting for her family. Kakamo and Sakumi are next in line for the title of Clan Head, so they get the foremost seats. After a few moments, a young man steps onto the stage and the room goes silent. A few people cough. A few Hatake kids in the back have a competition to see who can cough the loudest without getting reprimanded. All five of them lose.

"Now, our wise leader will speak on our situation. Afterwards, the floor will be open for debate on the topics on which we will speak. The Clan Meeting will now begin. Are there any objections?" He asks. no-one speaks. "Then the Clan Meeting will Begin!" He says, before dissappearing in a puff of smoke. Someone strikes a gong somewhere to symbolize the beginning of the traditional monthly meeting.

A middle-aged man walks onto the stage. He nods to acknowledge the crowd.

"I'm sure all of you are aware of our situation." He pauses solemnly. "Hatakes, civilian or ninja, with pure blood have rampaged through the streets of Konoha. There has been casualties. We are under quarantine. We barely survive on what the Konoha government can give us. We cannot do work. We cannot leave the city. And now, we know why this tragedy has occurred." He pauses again. Murmuring goes through the crowd.

"A disease. A disease that can cause the white chakra in our bodies to activate, causing some to rampage and kill dozens." The crowd gives a collective gasp.

"And while this may be awful, and dangerous for the citizens of Konohagakure, we do not deserve such treatment. We are starving. We are unemployed. Our once-great name has fallen to ruin." People in the crowd seem to nod in assent.

"But that isn't where our mistreatment ends. I have been told from the Konohagakure government itself that this disease was manufactured." The assembly sits in shock. "The poison came from Iwagakure. However, we were poisoned directly by someone within the Konoha government itself!" He finally states. The room suddenly erupts in a fierce uproar.

After a few minutes, the clan elder onstage raises his hand to silence the room, and then sighs. The microphone squeaks. "After all of this mistreatment, there is one thing left to do." The room awaits his words. "Fight!"

The room erupts yet again. This time, it takes ten minutes for everyone to stop yelling. Little Kakashi looks around nervously while Kakamo jumps up in anger. "No! We cannot fight against Konoha!" He yells, jumping up to the stage. Everyone stares. "We must remain loyal in these crucial times!" He says.

"How can you say that when your family is starving!" The elder says. Three other elders move out onto the stage, nodding. "Something must be done." Another elder, a female says.

Next, the other one speaks. "Black protective masks will be passed through the audience in order to provide some safety from the white chakra disease." He says. As he says, this, they are passed through the audience.

Kakashi tries one on. It fits. He smiles. "We'll be safe now, right mommy?" He asks. Sakumi nods, and gives a bland eye-smile. It's fake. She ruffles his hair affectionately.

"We must stay loyal to Konoha! We have lived here for many generations! Our lives are here! I am sure that the Hokage will sort out the insurrection in his ranks that caused this disease upon us. Have faith!" Kakamo says.

"The decision is already made. We will fight through the quarantine and leave to find new homes and medical treatment in exactly one week." The female elder says. Most of the crowd seems to agree. In the crowd, many children start to cry. Husbands and wives comfort each other.

Suddenly, a scream comes from somewhere in the room. Panic floods through the crowd. A brilliant white light shines from the back of the room. From the eyes of a Hatake. "Help!" She screams. "Help me!" She fights against her body, but it's no use. White foam falls out of her mouth, and blood drips from her eyes. She takes a step towards the crowd, and then she holds out her hand. The crowd watches nervously. A sphere of ethereal silver appears around her, and then it shoots outward from her. It's chaos.

The floor, wall, and chairs near her completely melt into puddles, while civilians and ninja alike are tossed like leaves in the wind, and given angry red burns by the wave of chakra. She holds out her other hand. This time, the pulse shoots into the wall, melting it into lava. Suddenly, more screaming erupts from another side of the room. This time a teenage boy staggers toward Kakamo. His eyes glow a brilliant white, so bright Kakamo can just barely make out his face.

The boy holds out his hands, and they twist at an unnatural angle. Then suddenly he shoots at Kakamo like a human bullet. Kakamo protects himself with a second chakra barrier, and then launches a spike of chakra up from the ground. The boy hovers in the air just above it's reach. He can fly. He's faster than any shinobi he's ever seen.

' _Maybe even as fast as Minato.' Kakamo thinks to himself._

"NOO! NO!" A voice gasps from the crowd. "My son!"

Not everyone can escape- the ladder is the only exit. People run away from her, and everyone crowds around the stage in fear. Kakamo walks toward the girl.

Another wave of silver shoots from her, melting everything in it's path. Kakamo creates a barrier. It stops the wave of rapidly moving chakra particles. He expands the barrier just in time to protect the terrified Hatakes behind him. "Quickly! Tunnel through the ceiling!" He yells. The infected girl is standing right in front of the ladder. Using Earthstyle Jutsu, the other Hatake ninja create a large circular tunnel in the side of the basement. Hatakes run through as fast as they can to make their escape. Panic drives them through the tunnel like cattle driven by a cowboy.

Soon, the underground cavern is deserted, with the exception of Kakamo and the two infected. They suddenly launch a dual attack on Kakamo. He barely manages to protect himself from both attacks, but he still gets hit. Kakash's father rolls across the floor, hitting the wall with a grunt. Now there are three.

"I'll have to resort to this." Kakamo says quietly. Kakamo stands and flares his chakra, causing it to swirl around him. "Barrier Man!" He yells. A massive form of a huge warrior forms around him, breaking the ceiling of the gigantic room, ten stories tall. Kakamo stands inside the chest of a giant silver, translucent, armored man with cruel white eyes. It's time to fight for real.


	48. Chapter 48: The Art of Abusing Knowledge

"I spy, with my little eye, something green."

"Tree."

"My turn!" Says Kaito enthusiastically. "I spy, with my little eye, something... green."

"Tree." I guess.

"How'dja know?" Kaito asks. Rei scoffs at his stupidity.

"Guys, this isn't the time to be joking around. We need to get serious!" Rei says.

I leap off another tree branch. "I spy, with my little eye, something... red." I say.

"Is it that demented peacock over there?" Kaito asks as we speed by a giant, maroon vulture that could eat us for lunch. It caws at us threateningly. We speed up just a little bit.

"Bingo."

Rei sighs, annoyed. "How could we have not seen a single other person this whole time?"

"Wait!" Kaito says. We stop. "There's someone up ahead."

We approach the signature slowly, masking our chakras as best we can. After about fifty feet, Rei and I can feel them too.

"It's a team!" Rei whispers. We stop in the treetops on the outskirts of a clearing. A trio of ninja are taking a break, sitting on the grass. They look tough.

"Are we gonna fight?" I whisper.

"They look strong." Rei says. They were Grass Country ninja. The three stand up and seal their snacks.

"Make a decision fast!" I say.

Below us, the three grass ninja jump away into the trees. "Ah, we missed our chance!" Kaito says.

I hope Team 7 is doing okay with Sir Creepsalot. I hope the evacuation of Konoha is going okay.

We jump away into the trees again.

Pop... Suddenly, memories hit me like a truck. "Guys," I say. "Team 7 is in trouble."

"So what? This is a competition." Rei says.

"No, like, they're gonna get killed!" I say. Kaito looks worried.

"So what're we gonna do, risk failing the exams to help them? They're just gonna fight us later. Where the heck are they, anyway?"

"One of my clones found them."

"You should have confidence in them! Send some clones or something if you really gotta, but we can't risk you getting hurt." Kaito argues.

"Let's take a vote. I vote we help Naruto." I suggest.

"I vote we don't." Kaito states cruelly. I wish I could tell him what's going on, but I don't want a Sasuke repeat.

It's down to Rei. "I also vote we do not go. We need to stay focused!"

"Fine! Then I'm going alone!" I say. "How could you guys be so heartless?"

"This is a competition. They'll be fine!"

"Kaito's right, you need to learn that you can't just go around doing everything you want to get done yourself. You need to trust your comrades."

"We meet at that clearing at sundown. If I'm not there by then, I'll send a clone. Got it?"

They nod. I pivot on the branch and wave noncommittally over my shoulder. "See ya."

"Good luck."

I leap away into the trees. _I can't let Sasuke or Naruto get hurt!_ They're too important. I leap onto another branch, going fast now. How could I have forgotten this would happen? I just discussed this with Lord Hokage the other day...

I settle into a rhythm, making the jump from tree to tree, when suddenly-

The branch disappears beneath me.

"What!?" I gasp, falling through the canopy. I look down. There's a giant hole beneath me that surely goes all the way through the Earth, rushing forward to devour me. I try to grab a branch with a chakra string but it goes right through the branch. It didn't work? How is that possible? Does it have chakra in it? I start to panic. I might not pass the exams if I fall that far-

 _I have bigger things to worry about!_ I realize. _Like how I'm gonna survive this fall!_ I fall into the endless pit, staring into the black below me in terror. The dimmed light of the forest gives way to all-consuming balance as I spin downward in a freefall. I put my arms and legs out, trying to stabilize myself. I've definitely fallen for half a minute now.

This isn't possible! There's no way there could be a hole this deep here, so it must be- genjutsu! I flare my chakra, building it up in a gigantic, swirling mass in my chest, and I shove it up towards my brain, flooding it with chakra. The edges of my vision turn blue and tears stream out of my eyes from the wind and speed at which I'm falling. Nothing happens- I'm too distracted by my fear to properly handle my chakra.

I close my eyes tight and try again.

 _1, 2, 3!_ I flood my mind with chakra again with a gasp of effort and snap my eyes open. I'm in the forest again, lying on the ground pathetically, covered in sweat and out of breath. Someone is rummaging through my pockets. I kick this person in the chest with both feet, launching her into a tree while sliding me backwards. I stand up, taking in my surroundings. I twisted my ankle in my plummet from the treetops. And while I was in the genjutsu, I wasn't able to use my chakra to protect myself, so I'm covered in scrapes and scratches.

"Well it looks like you're not dead after all! What a shame."

I examine my enemy. A grass ninja, just like the ones we saw earlier in the clearing! They must have detected us and waited until we split to attack. That's not good. The ninja I'm about to fight wears a green cloak with some sort of orange, red, and white tribal-looking markings around the bottom and top edges. The top of the cloak obscures her neck with a tall collar that is open in the front. She is tall, with long black hair.

"Hey, check it out! a brand new scroll! I guess I'll keep it." She holds up our scroll. No! How could I have been so careless! I was too focused on trying to remember what Orochimaru does to Team 7 that I let my guard down.

"You may know some cool mind tricks, but that won't be enough to stop me from taking both of your scrolls!" I say.

"You're wrong. And even though I've taken your team's scroll, I'll kill you just to take you out of the competition." She flares her chakra, which stirs up a light breeze around us. Leaves swirl around her feet. She's strong. I need backup.

Mentally, I send the details to the tiny lizard-shaped clone I gave to Rei.

"My teammates will be here shortly. I've told them everything, and now that they know you use genjutsu, they'll be prepared to stop you." I threaten her.

"Wrong again!" She laughs. What? "All the Grass teams joined up this year so we would actually have a chance. They're destroying your little teammates as we speak. We have years of experience on you rookies and you can't stop us. I failed my first exam, but it won't happen this time!"

Rei! Kaito! The only chance we have is if we all fight together. Actually, I take that back. We don't have a chance.

"We'll see about that." I say. We both prepare to fight, and she launches a storm of shuriken at me. I block them with kunai and jump over a few that had wire strung between them. _Interesting-_ I note as they fly between my legs and wrap around the tree behind me- _The shuriken only have three points._

Out of my vest pocket, I pull out our scroll. "Looking for this?" I ask almost jovially.

"What!?" She asks, surprised.

"During your stupid little speech earlier, I grabbed it from your pocket with my jutsu." I explain. I hold my hand out and a chakra string worms out of my index finger and grabs a fallen shuriken. The string hurls the shuriken back at her.

She leaps at me with a burst of chakra, catching me in the chest by surprise with her bony little shoulder. I block with both hands but it still launches me backwards into a tree. I coalesce chakra in a thin but sturdy film over my back to protect from the tree, and when I hit, I feel my chakra weakening. I leave a crater in the trunk. She jumps off the tree back to the ground and I jump off horizontally, headed right for her. I throw a few shurkien. They are all blocked but a few miss. Perfect.

She tries to block with a kunai but my chakra-coated fist slams into it, knocking it out of her hands and pushing her off her feet. I step back a few times. While she's down, I connect chakra strings to all the shuriken around her and they descend on her like homing missiles. She makes a few quick handsigns and re-appears above me, headed for me with a flying kick. The shuriken are redirected towards her and she disappears again. The shuriken hit a log with a " _Plunk_!"

She reappears again in front of me. "This is a lot less fun than I thought it would be, so let's just get this over with. Secret Art: Confusion!"

I wait for the genjutsu to set in. Nothing happens. "It had no effect. I think I understand why you didn't pass your first exam." I say. She smiles. This is an opportunity for me to attack. I take a step forward and... fall on my face. _What now!_

I'm confused.

I try to stand, but just end up falling on my face again. When I try to push myself up on my arms, I simply collapse in a heap. Every time I try to move my left leg, my right leg moves instead! And every time I move my left arm, my right arm moves instead, and vice versa. This genjutsu changes my brain's perception of right and left! Realizing this, I hop to my feet quickly. I need to defeat her to help my team!

"Hunting you has been as easy as hunting a buffalo. Now that I think of it, you remind me of those creatures from my homeland somewhat."

"Don't patronize me!" I yell.

"You're right, I take that back. Buffalos are much hairier." She wrinkles her nose as if disgusted by my existence. "But probably much smarter."

I finally get the hang of standing again. As long as I don't have to walk, I can just rely on my chakra strings and I should be fine.

Then I get an idea.

I need to defeat her fast. This may be a little under-handed, butttttt... it's a plan. It'll work.

I pull out our team's scroll from my vest pocket. "You want it?" I ask. "You can have it!" I toss it at her, opening it as it flies. She catches it.

"Giving up won't save you!" She yells. Then, chakra smoke starts pouring out of the scroll. "Huh?" She asks, dropping it like it's hot. While she's distracted, she also drops her weird genjutsu thing, and I leap away into the woods as fast as I can. I hide behind a bush and mask my chakra as best as I can.

The summoning jutsu completes, and a form teleports into the smoke.

"What is this?" The Grass ninja gasps, stepping away from the scroll, coughing. I grimace. This has got to be the worst way to win.

The smoke clears. "YOU FAIL!" Iruka yells. The Grass girl pales.

"Wha- What?"

"We told you not to open your scroll. You opened it. Therefore, you have been disqualified. Anyone who reads the scroll will be placed in a powerful genjutsu that will knock you out in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." Iruka says. The girl falls into his arms. "What a stupid way to fail. And on the first day, too... I guess they just don't make 'em like they used to." He sighs, and sets her down in the dirt. Then he turns around and glances toward me. I stop breathing and hold completely still. _Please don't fail me Please don't fail me Please don't fail me..._ He disappears, along with our scroll.

I run forward and check her pockets. Although our scroll is gone, She has one to replace it. Heaven. With that clown out of the way, I quickly make my decision: save Team 7, or Team 15?


	49. Chapter 49: Write a good name here

As I approach the clearing where I left my Team, I begin to smell something odd. After a minute of hard sprinting, the scent becomes clear.

Burnt flesh.

I sprint faster than I could have ever thought I could.

As I was beginning to panic, Kaito's chakra washes over me like one of those things inside of Costco doors that blows cold air on you as you walk in from the Summer heat. That's the best way to describe it. Relief flows through me. Why did I doubt them? Sure that chick was super strong, and I couldn't beat her even though I'm the strongest on the Team, but...

Why can't I feel Rei too? I start to lose confidence and panic starts to seep back into me like I was drinking lead or unprepared for one of Iruka-Sensei's diabolical written exams. The smell of burning gets more intense. The air seems to be filled with smoke.

What happened!?

I finally burst into the clearing. And...

It was a massacre.

Bodies lay all around the small clearing. Some were on fire.

I recoiled in shock and revulsion. It was awful. Everything was awful.

What kind of brutal, sick asshole would do this? Who COULD? There was only one answer for me. Orochimaru must have done this. I hated Orochimaru from watching the anime, but seeing a massacre of ninja- of children!- in real life was just too much. There was a red haze in the air, like evaporated blood. It stuck to my skin in a fine spray, like spray paint. I shudder.

After my heart calmed down a bit, I looked around the field. My Team!

After looking closely, most of the ninja were grass ninja. In fact, all of them were...

* * *

I rub my eyes and check for genjutsu. No genjutsu. This is for real. But where is my team? Did they escape? I trundle through the field, looking at the ninja. Wiping blood off my face, I kneel down and check to see if one is alive. I check her pulse. Her skin is still warm. She used to be alive... She used to have hopes and dreams...

I fall on my hands and knees, feeling sickened. I risk a glance to see how she died. There was a smoking hole in her chest, all the way through. ...Whatever hit her was so hot, it charred her on the inside and out. The fabric of her green tunic had a blackened hole in it, seeping blood, where a small flame danced over her still form. I choke again and look to the other side. But I can't escape the horror. There's more death on my left, and all around me...

Where's my Team?

My concern for my teammates makes me choke down my terror and shakily stand. I need to find Kaito and Rei and get the hell out of here before... whatever monster killed all of them comes back!

I look around, and, finally, I find Rei. His chakra was so weak I didn't even notice it until I saw him. "No!" I gasp, stumbling towards him. He has chakra, so he's most likely still alive, but it could just be residual chakra leftover from his living body...

I approach him. He's lying on his back with his arms out to his sides, covered in miscellaneous burns, cuts, and bruises. A large, deep-looking incision wound around his left shoulder. He lost a lot of blood. "Rei!" I cry, falling to my knees next to him.

He opens his electric purple eyes. His short, black, spiky hair is matted with dried blood. His black vest is cut in multiple places, where the enemy sliced right through the high-tech woven kevlar. In some places, his clothes are melted or burned off.

"I'm fine." He chokes out, breathing heavily. "I'm just a little tired. Go find Kaito."

"You've lost a lot of blood. You're delirious." I say.

"No... I'm serious. Go find him. He's worse than me. Just let me sleep for a little while."

"Don't you Dare go to sleep you asshole!" I yell. "I need your help! Kaito's missing!" I look up, twisting my head, searching for Kaito. "Where is he? What happened here? Keep answering my questions." I instruct. "I'm gonna get you guys to the tower."

"There was a huge fight." Rei explains."I got hit hard and blacked out right after we took out the first three guys. I only woke up just now." He grimaces. "He's... over there." He says, pointing with his good arm. "Ahghg, I think I broke a few ribs." He says. He clutches his stomach.

* * *

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU GUYS GET INTO SO MUCH TROUBLE AS SOON AS I LEAVE?!" I yell at him.

"He shrugs, It's a talent. 'Takes... (cough cough) years of practice." He smiles through the pain. Above us, the sun begins to fall from it's late afternoon position. "I guess you're the Blitz." He says. I stand up. I gotta find Kaito.

I jog in the direction Rei pointed me to. I round over the top of a hill, and then almost fall. On the other side of a small hill, just over the tree line, is a small crater. IT doesn't look like it blew up, it looks like the earth was melted. In the middle is Kaito.

"Kaito!" I yell. "Kaito, Kaito, Kaito, Kaito..." I jump down to the bottom of the bowl and check for injuries. Other than a couple bruises, cuts, and maybe a broken arm, he seems fine.

But he's not breathing. And his heart isn't beating.

Quickly, I give him chest compressions, tilting his head back. _I didn't think this was how my first kiss here would go..._ I think while breathing into his mouth and pinching his nose tight, using chakra as a breathing barrier like they taught us in the academy. Giving CPR and maintaining the thin chakra armor barrier was nearly impossible. I mentally cursed Iruka-Sensei for not reviewing that technique enough.

After a good 45 seconds, I was getting nowhere. Getting desperate, I try alter the balance of chakra of normal chakra I use to create Earth chakra. It works, as usual. Lightning is my second nature, right? I try to imagine what the opposite balance to Earth chakra would feel like. Earth chakra uses a lot of physical, so I try to use the same ratio, but with the larger proportion being mental chakra. And by some force of desperation...

Lightning surges through my hands, untamed, connecting to anything it can. It's only a little bit, but it just might be enough... I press my hands to Kaito's chest and the lightning arcs in. His hands and neck twitches, and suddenly his eyes snap open! Relief floods through me once again. My friends are gonna be okay! He takes a deep, gasping breath, like he had just been saved from drowning, and then he falls back down again. But he's alive. After checking his pulse, I determine that his heartbeat is relatively normal. I lift him bridal style, with some effort and head to Rei. I lay Kaito down in the mud.

"Are you well enough to travel?" I ask him.

"I... I can stand." He says, struggling to his feet. He doesn't make it past kneeling position before he falls on his face.

"I know where we can find some safety and some shelter for tonight. But we need to get moving." I say. He nods. I pull him up and he leans heavily against my left shoulder, shaking and breathing hard, and I drape Kaito over my right, holding him up with his arms around my neck. They're heavy. Even with my supernatural strength, it's slow going. It takes entirely too long to leave the blood-soaked fields and walk into the safety of the tree-line. But we slowly move towards the location of the Team 7 V.S. Orochimaru fight.

We finally get there, long after nightfall. Rei had passed out again. Kaito was still knocked out. Struggling and hunched forward, I pull the two slowly over the tree roots and moss. Up ahead I can feel the dim light of Team 7's chakras. It feels like we'd been walking for hours, even though we didn't really go that far. And now that my adrenaline is all used up, my twisted ankle makes every step feel like I'm walking in lava. The cuts and bruises all over me ache. We approach the clearing. Sakura is sitting next to Sasuke and Naruto inside the roots of a monstrous tree, trying not to fall asleep. The noise of my arrival wakes her.

"Who's there?" She says, trying to sound tough, pulling out a kunai. Rei coughs. I'm too tired to carry them anymore. We fall through the bushes in a tangled mess.

* * *

I open my eyes blearily. It takes me a moment to remember everything that happened. All that blood, the death march, how I cheated...

I'm under the protection of the roots of a large tree. I turn my head to the side. Naruto on my left, Rei on my right. _Rei._ Sakura is bandaging his cuts, but seems to have fallen asleep mid-wrap and stopped wrapping Rei's shoulder.

"Sakura." I rasp. She jumps to attention."Sarah! You're awake!"

"What time is it?" I ask. I feel exhausted. Like a train hit me.

"I dunno..."

Then, I fade into darkness again.

* * *

The next time I wake up, it's because of an explosion of chakra. It's almost... malevolent. It prickles my skin as it washes over me, little pinpoints of pain. It feels like... Orochimaru! I sit up quickly, covered in a cold sweat. I'm covered in dry sweat, tears, blood, and mud, and I feel like I just got hit by a truck. I groan, and turn around. Purple chakra whips around a silhouetted form that almost looks like... Sasuke! He walks toward a cowering ninja. The Sound trio. I remember them. Choji's out there! Choji! My thoughts are jumbled and confused as I try to re-orient myself. I can't believe what happened yesterday...

I look over and check on Kaito and Rei. Both sleep soundly. I check their foreheads. Rei has a fever, and Kaito seems like he has chakra exhaustion. But I can't tell. I'm no medical ninja.

 _If I get out of this alive, I swear I'm gonna make Yuri teach me some medical ninjutsu._

I look over at Naruto. He's doing alright... Amazingly, actually. He's completely healed, and judging by the cloth on his forehead, he had a fever at some point last night. Either way, he's completely fine now.

Sakura stands next to Sasuke, who seems to be calming down. The evil energy retreats. The Sound enemy they're fighting leaves the scroll on the ground and disappears. I'm aware that he said something, but my ears are ringing too hard. I can't tell what he said.

Ino walks over to help Rock Lee, and Choji rushes over to me. "Sarah! What happened!?" He yells.

"How was your fight?" I inquire. I feel so thin and fragile. Like a blade of grass.

"We kicked their asses. Ino-Shika-Cho Style!" He says, clapping his hands together with enthusiasm.

I fist-bump him. The impact shakes me a bit more than it probably should have. "Way to go, bro."

He smiles and adjusts his green coat. He looks so much better without his scarf and the retarded panty-hat. And the earring he acquired from dad makes him look like a pretty cool dude. "But seriously, what happened to you guys?"

"It's a long story, we'll explain later."

"I'm gonna wake Naruto up now." Shikamaru declares, to nobody in particular, walking over to the makeshift hospital. Naruto mumbles something in his sleep. Shikamaru laughs. "Guys, did you hear that? He's dreaming about protecting Sakura."

A couple people chuckle. Shikamaru kicks Naruto. "Ya missed your chance, buddy. Get up!"

"Wha-Whaaa?" Naruto flings himself to his feet. "HEY! Where's Snake Guy!?"

"We took care of him for you, sleeping beauty. Get off your ass." Sasuke says, taunting.

"Whadja just call me!?"

"Ugh, too loud, Naruto~!" I complain.

"He's only been awake for five seconds and he's already on my nerves." Shikamaru complains.

Naruto sits up straight. "Sakura! What happened to your hair?!"

" _That's_ your concern? We just took a beating on your behalf!" Choji complains.

"There we go, nice and easy." Ino sits Lee down on a log.

"Can someone just tell me what's going on?" Naruto asks.

From the trees above, Tenten jumps to the ground next to Ino and her teammate. "I'll take it from here, Ino." She says. Ino nods.

Tenten slaps Lee in the face.

Lee falls backwards off the log, alive, awake, alert, and enthusiastic all at once. "Come on, Lee! Snap out of it!"

"Huh?" Lee looks around blearily. Blood leaks out of his left ear. "What are you doing here, Tenten? And where are those Sound Ninja?"

"They've been taken care of. Let's get out of here." Tenten crouches and Lee hops on, piggyback ride style.

"Wait!" Sakura calls. She jogs over to the bombastic duo. Sasuke follows her. "Lee- Thank you. Thanks a lot for saving me. You gave me the courage to stand up for myself and... I'm a little bit stronger now." They both share a smile.

"I had to try. I am sorry that I was not good enough." Lee looks down. "I got destroyed, I was no help at all."

"Come on, Lee. You're not weak. You shouldn't have just jumped in like that! That was incredibly reckless." Tenten chastises him.

"I am sorry to both of you." He says.

"What you did may not seem like much to you, but it was everything to me." Sakura says. Naruto walks over and stands behind Sasuke, curious.

Lee smiles.

"I need to get you all patched up."Tenten says. They wave goodby, and then they both jump away.

"What the heck happened while I was asleep?" Naruto asks. I thought you hated 'Bushy Brows!" Naruto says.

"I did." Sakura responds.

"Hey, Sakura! Let me fix your hair! Ya know I wanted to cut hair when I was younger." Ino says.

"Sure!" Sakura walks over.

Shaking a bit, especially on my right ankle, I walk over to Naruto and Sasuke. "What did happen while we were out?"

"I don't know, myself." Sasuke says, quietly.

So we decide to take two days to get our shit together.

"Your team got a heaven scroll, meaning that there's one less heaven scroll for us to find out there. Plus, that creep Orochimaru burned our last one. There might not be enough teams with heaven scrolls out there for us to pass." Sakura says.

"Either way, the next opponent we face will probably be our last chance to get a scroll." Sasuke says.

"I think the fish are done." Naruto says. He pulls the fish from their stakes near the fire and hands them out.

"I ditched my sealing scrolls of food for chakra when I was carrying my team to your base, so I got nothin'." I explain. Naruto waves a fish in front of my face.

"You know I hate seafood."

"Well, fish is what we got, so eat up! You haven't eaten since you passed out again yesterday morning." He says.

"They're not that bad." Rei says.

"yeah, if your only other option is raw sewage." I make an attempt to nibble on the fish but the smell makes my stomach do a barrel roll.

"Hey! I cooked that for you, so you should be grateful!" Sakura says. We fall silent for a bit, watching the flames.

"I'm gonna go get some water." Sasuke says, grabbing our canteens and heading towards the clear creek.

"I'm gonna go find some plants or something to eat." I say, standing up and stretching. My ankle still hurts a bit, but I feel much better after taking a quick bath in the stream next to our camp.

"And I'll gonna go check on Kaito." Rei says, standing up with me.

"Can I have your fish?" Naruto asks. I toss it to him.


	50. Chapter 50: Chapter 50!

*Kakashi* Okay everyone, today is Author-San's 50th chapter! So we're gonna throw... a surprise party! *puts on party hat*

*Naruto* I know! I'm gonna splash e'm in the face with paint!

*Sasuke* *Facepalms* Not that kind of surprise Naruto.

*Sarah* Hey! Don't make fun of him! He's never been to surprise party! Or a party!

*Awkward*

*Naruto* *Dies*

*Sakura* Well thanks a lot for killing Naruto, _fatty!_

*Sarah* _WHAT did you just call me!?_

*This will be the most YOUTHFUL party ever! I can see it now! can you too, Guy-Sensei!?

*YES, LEE!*

*YES, Gai Sensei!* *Hugs*

*Now we will blow balloons twice as fast as a testament to our eternal flames of YOUTH!*

*Yes Gai Sensei!*

*Everyone* *Sweat drops*

*Yuri* Who invited _them_?

*Naruto* Sorry, I thought they'd be... Surprising?

*Iruka and Sakura* NARUTOOOOOOOOO!

Thank you Itachistriker13, Candiandi97, Tick Tock Follow the Clock, RetroVibe, Ali858, jessetimm5491, ariasumy, Outerjay, Perper37, BlueJae3, academysscholar314, Lizy Black, hisan sadness, Badwolf432, ..., etc. (Sorry if I didn't write ur name)

* * *

"Experienced teams won't go searching through the forest- they'll go to the tower and ambush the ninja who try to finish the test." Kabuto lectures us. Kabuto. The traitor. While I was gone looking for food, he showed up and stopped Naruto from opening the scroll just in time. I need to make sure something bad happens to this guy.

Why didn't I tell the Sandaime about his spy-yness? Stupid.

"That means that on the last day of the test, the easiest way to get a scroll is to wait around the tower for other teams." Kabuto finishes.

"So we're gonna set up a trap!" Sakura says, in summary.

"Yes, but that's only part of the situation. Other people who have had the same idea as us will be waiting for us to set up our trap."

"So you're saying there's double traps? Now I'm more confused than I was when you started talking." Naruto says.

"Trap-ception." I joke, adjusting my hold on the homemade stretcher that Rei and I carry Kaito on. He still hasn't woken up. We're all worried, but none of us want to admit the possibility that he might be seriously injured out loud because none of us want to face the truth.

Branches and vines speed by underneath our feet as we fly towards the center tower to get our hands on some scrolls. We're moving low in the canopy, where it's still dark. The air is humid and gloomy. The weight of Kaito's unconscious body weighs Rei and I down slightly, but my superhuman strength makes up for it. I'm carrying the front of the stretcher, while Rei handles the back.

"So? We can take 'em! The more people that are waiting for us at the tower, the more scrolls we could potentially steal! I hope they're all waiting for us! All we gotta do is find a team, beat 'em up, and take their scrolls!" Naruto says.

"Yes, but again, that's not the whole problem."

"Then what's the rest of it?" Naruto asks.

"The remaining type of enemy that lies in wait for us: collectors."

"People who want to take extra scrolls to knock teams out of the competition." Sakura guesses.

"Exactly- Collectors take scrolls from as many teams as they can so they can use the scrolls as bargaining chips in sticky situations or give the scrolls to friends in need." Kabuto adjusts his glasses. "They can also destroy them to automatically take another team out of the running. These are the most dangerous type of enemy, because they can never be satisfied. Even if you give them your scroll, they'll still kill you to ensure a victory."

"I think I understand why you came looking for us now." Sasuke says. "You're scared."

Whyy does everything you say have to be rude, Sasuke? So annoying!

"Hell yeah I'm scared!"

I'm scared too. The last fight I was in went so badly right from the start, my confidence was shaken. But the confidence was fake to begin with, anyway.

When night falls, we stop to rest I'm the trees. Fireflies swarm around us. It's quite beautiful. Flowers with luminescent bulbs in the middle shine a pale green light on us from their viny roosts on branches and trunks. Konoha's famous lightning lilies, created by the Second Hokage. A full moon shines above, but tiny flecks of light shining through the leaves is the only clue that it's still there. The thick canopy obscures the rest.

"From now on, we need to be quiet and stay unnoticed as much as we can." Kabuto says. We nod.

"Until we take 'em out of course!" Naruto amends.

"Sshhhhhh!"

Naruto seems embarrassed for a moment. Rei and I set Kaito down on the dirt and stretch our arms, cramped from holding it.

"Want me to help carry him for a bit?" Kabuto asks.

"No, I'm fine." I say, eye-smiling. _Stay the hell away from Kaito, you traitorous asshole!_

Then, there's a rustling behind us. "Sakura! Behind you!" Naruto yells, throwing a Kunai. The kunai whistles through the air and hits flesh. We all turn around, pulling out weapons. A giant centipede. Sakura and I visibly recoil in disgust.

"Oh, false alarm. It was just a centipede." Naruto says.

"Jeez, don't get us all scared over nothing like that." Rei says, annoyed.

" _Just_ a centipede! Look at that thing! It's huge!" Sakura wails. We all give her a look that said, _keep it down, pinkie._

"It's all slimy and gross." I say, shuddering. I don't mind normal-sized insects, but I am definitely opposed to bugs that could eat me for breakfast. And due to its size, we could see every grotesque detail of it's disgustingness. I deliberately turn my attention away from the centipede and check on Kaito while Kabuto jumps to the treetops to measure the distance between us and the tower with a compass.

"We're getting closer." He says, after dropping back down. "Let's move."

We keep going for another two hours, walking on the forest floor to reduce chakra trace and occasionally running from forest monsters.

"Can we just stop for a while?" Sakura asks. "I'm exhausted."

"She has a point." I say. "We haven't eaten since lunch." My tummy growls loudly as if to agree with me. "That's not natural."

"Come on, let's just get to the tower, I'm sure they'll have food there. We should be real close by now, right?" Naruto says.

"Actually, now that you mention it, I don't think we are getting any closer to the tower." Rei squints at the building, visible in the moonlight. We set down the stretcher again. I find a log to sit on.

Kabuto pulls out his compass and flips up two sights. He peers through two holes in the sights at the tower, lining them up. "It isn't getting closer." He closes the compass. They're right. The tower seems just as far away as before. "We weren't cautious enough. It seems as if we've already been spotted." Kabuto says.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asks.

"Look." Kabuto points through the trees. On the other side of a small bog is... The dead body of the giant centipede. "Look familiar?"

"Eugh!"

Naruto sums up our fears in one sentence. "So we've been walking in circles this entire time?!"

"It must be genjutsu." Sasuke says, seriously.

"Sasuke's right, unfortunately for us," Kabuto adjusts his glasses. "We were so busy trying not to get noticed we didn't even know that someone had tricked us into walking in circles."

I laugh at that, partly from exhaustion and hunger, and because I can now say I've walked in circles for two hours. My stomach growls again. "I need food." I complain.

"It seems like there's a more important threat upon us." Rei says quietly. "If we try to break the genjutsu, other teams will notice the spike in chakra and come like flies to honey. So we'll just have to wait for the enemy to show themselves."

Kabuto nods. "The enemy was probably going to make us walk in circles until we are tired and weary."

"You mean," Sasuke says, "Like we are right now?"

just then, there's a rustle in the bushes. Except this time, instead of a centipede, black clones start to appear, climbing out of the ground and trees around us like zombies climbing from a grave. They all have rain headbands, a white blindfold, and what looks like a black full-body swimsuit. They slowly surround us. We have to fight.

"Clones!" Naruto pulls a Kunai and we all prepare for a battle. They surround us on all sides, but oddly, they don't attack. They just slowly envelop us and corner us like penned cattle.

"They're not real!" I say. "They're just part of the genjutsu. That's why they're not attacking." I theorize.

"Well let's find out!" Naruto yells, jumping at the nearest clone. His fist passes right through the clone's head, tearing it apart like it's made of smoke. Naruto crashes through it and lands on hands and knees, having expected resistance but not gotten any. We watch helplessly as the clone with a broken head grows a second head and a second pair of arms. This time, one of the four hands has a kunai in it. It flings the kunai at Naruto. He jumps straight up in the air to dodge, but he's too tired to evade the flying knife properly and it cuts him on the shin. He creates a clone in midair, which kicks him in the back. He flies over into our little island, in a sea of black swimsuit clones.

Naruto winces, wiping blood off his shin from where it cut through his navy blue pants. "You call that fake, huh?"

"It seems here's more going on here than I expected." Kabuto says, adjusting his glasses with one hand while brandishing a kunai with his other.

"Well, since they can hurt us, I guess we'll have to fight for real now." Rei says. We nod to each other. I create a shadow clone and we make a triangle around Kaito's sleeping figure together.

"I just don't get why they don't explode into smoke when you hit them like my clones." Naruto says, in thought. "But don't think that makes you better than me, Rain Village guy!" Naruto points somewhere off into the forest. "I can make a million times more clones than you EVER could!"

"I've been waiting for an opportunity to test this out." Sasuke says, getting serious. His chakra suddenly goes through the roof. "Let's see what's really going on! Sharingan!"


	51. Chapter 51

"Sharingan!" Sasuke yells. The chakra strain visibly weakens him and he falters. "I can't see them. It's like they're not even there." Sasuke growls, wincing in pain. The sharingan retreats. "They're part of the genjutsu."

"Then how'd I get hurt!?" Naruto exclaims. A genjutsu clone gets a little too close to us, so I form a shadow clone that destroys the illusion and then disperses. I don't have much chakra to work with here. It's easily below 25%, and to make matters worse, we're all exhausted.

"They must be throwing kunai from the shadows, in time with the illusionary clones!" Sakura says.

"Then if we beat them all up, there'll be no illusionary clones to throw kunai in time with, and we'll be able to see where the enemy's throwing kunai from!" Naruto concludes. Ten clones replace the one my shadow clones killed.

" _Surrender your scrolls._ " One illusionary clone says.

" _Surrender your scrolls_."

" _Surrender your scrolls_!"

" _Surrender your scrolls_."

"Naruto, there's hundreds!" Sakura says.

"But we have hundreds too!"

"Don't, Naruto! You're too exhausted." Sakura says. "You'll kill yourself!"

Rei and I watch them argue. An illusion clone throws a kunai and I barely catch it with a chakra string.

Naruto ends the debate. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The orange ninja crosses his fingers. In a flash, we're covered in Narutos. They swarm around us like a crowd at a concert, forming a protective mob around us. Then, they start moving. Their grunts of effort and pain are deafening as they take on the enemy. At the front of the pack, the real Naruto leads the attack. "These are my favorite kinda' enemy!" He yells. "'Cuz since they're not real, we don't have to show any mercy!" The Narutos rally for another push, some get popped but five more take their place, completely overwhelming the illusion jutsu. The rest of us watch in awe.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Sakura asks.

"We have to, now!" Sasuke says. Kabuto, Sakura, and Sasuke jump into the fray while Rei and I pick up Kaito and carry him up a tree. On a massive limb that stretches above the clearing, we set him down. Illusion clones can now only come at us from either side of the branch.

The fight drags on for hours, and none of us are able to find the real enemy. Finally, a clone knocks me off the branch. I catch it with a chakra string and try to swing to the ground, but I don't have enough chakra left. It deteriorates and I fall. This time, there isn't a sea of Narutos to catch me and I fall on a tree root. The impact leaves me breathless.

"Sarah!" Rei calls.

"Sarah!" Naruto yells. The distraction causes him to get punched hard in the stomach, knocking him down in a heap next to where I struggle to sit up and catch my breath. Because Naruto had fallen, The Illusion clones were able to flank Sasuke and he gets cut on the arm. He trips on a tree root and falls next to us. Sakura is the next to fall, then Kabuto.

Sasuke grunts in pain, holding his neck. He struggles against the power of the cursed mark. We're all too tired to help him. Above us, the sky lightens. It's almost morning.

"We need to think of something, quick!" Sakura says.

"I don't think I can keep going for much longer." Kabuto says.

The few shadow clones that are still fighting form a protective circle around us.

"I got it!"

"Got what?" Sakura saks Naruto.

"The plan." Naruto pauses, and pulls himself to his feet using a nearby tree trunk. Then, he whispers his plan to us. We nod.

I use almost all the chakra I have left to create a few shadow clones off in the woods- shadow clones of Kaito, Rei and I. Naruto does the same, but for his team and Kabuto. Then, on the count of three, we use Replacement to switch places with them in the woods. To the enemy, it looks like nothing happened. Our clones get up and carry on the fight.

"Now we run!" Naruto exclaims, taking off into the forest.

Sasuke grabs the back of his shirt and pulls him back. "Not so fast, Naruto."

"What do you mean?! This is our chance to get away with our lives!" Sakura says.

"SHHHHH!" We all shush her.

"We still need the scroll." Rei says. "In fact, we need two."

"That's right, and we only have a few hours left in the exam." Kabuto checks his watch.

"We're gonna have to split up." I say. Everyone looks at me like I'm crazy.

"But Kaito's hurt!" Sakura exclaims. "You won't stand a chance, especially not like this!"

"They could be those collector types and have more than one scroll." Kabuto points out. He's the only one who doesn't look scared or apprehensive. Probably because he's a spy.

I crush my teeth together, annoyed, angry, and tired. "If I just had a little something to eat, we'd be fine." I say.

"Will you _stop_ thinking with your mouth and start using your head!" Rei complains. "This is _not_ the time for food!"

"Hey, hey, don't fall apart now. We can't crack under pressure. We need to stay focused." Kabuto says. "My team might have gotten another scroll. If not, there's sure to be plenty more contestants near the tower." He says.

"But we can't fight like this." Rei says. "We're already run down as it is."

"Will you STOP WHINING!" Naruto yells, punching a tree. We stop talking. Something about him just draws attention. Maybe it's the orange jacket. "If we don't pull ourselves together _right now,_ neither of our teams will pass! Let's just focus on what's right ahead of us and beat up those Rain guys before it's too late."

We nod to each other, and jump back through the forest and hide just behind the tree line of the clearing. I relay a message to my clones: _get defeated._ My clones fall down, and fake Rei allows himself to be stabbed by a kunai. The strain of holding Fake Rei together and not letting him pop makes black spots swim in my vision.

Finally, the illusion clones shimmer out of existence and the Rain ninja pop out of the woods in front of our clones. We waste no time in attacking- Kabuto leaps forward and tackles the far left one, while Naruto and Rei jump ontop of the center one. Sasuke takes down the right. Naruto and I disperse our clones. I join the struggle and soon, the Rain ninja are subdued. We knock each of them out and take their scroll. It's Heaven.

"Yes!" Naruto cheers as he holds it above his head. "Just what we needed!" Rei and I look at each other, disappointed, while Team 7 cheers and smiles. it looks like we aren't going to pass.

Thirty minutes later, we arrive at the tower- surprisingly, without conflict. The tower is a large, conical, red structure, at least twenty stories tall, and obviously held together by seals and not much else. It looks like a mountain now that we're under it. The Tower used to be the main guard tower for the Konoha ninjas who protected the smaller towns outside the main city's walls during the Second and Third World Wars. On the other side of Konoha, there's another, slightly smaller tower, painted green.

Around it is a large concrete pad, and the tower has many doors circling the bottom. We approach the tower.

"You're late, Kabuto." A voice comes from the tree line. Above us, the bright sun illuminates two figures- Kabuto's teammates. Rei and I set Kaito on the concrete.

"Sorry, I got a little distracted." Kabuto says, smiling. He looks completely fine. So do his teammates.

"Thanks for all the help!" Naruto says. He smiles.

"No problem! Well- this is my door. Good luck!"

"You too!"

"Oh- and one more thing." Kabuto hands me a card with a seal on it. It has a bunch of squiggles on lights inside me. Kabuto is way older than us- I'm sure he knows how to write summoning seals!

Kabuto and the rest of his team walk through their respective red door. Now, it's just us and Team 7. I look at my watch. 3 minutes left. Not enough time to find another team or even fight among our two teams to see who gets to advance.

"Sorry you guys were'nt able to get your scroll." Sakura says. We share a moment of silence and disappointment.

"I was really hoping I'd get to fight you in the chunin exams." Naruto says.

"I guess you'll have to do that on your own time." I finger the card in my pocket, our last shot, trying not to let my hope rise like a rocket only for it to crash down when the card summons some killer poison fog or just does nothing.

"So long." Sasuke says. And with that, Team 7 finds an unoccupied red door and walks through. We pick up Kaito and do the same. The room is a large, concrete box with little detail. At one end of the room is a large panel of paper with a poem enscribed on it with black paint. We drop Kaito and slump against the wall.

"What now?" Rei asks. His voice echoes around the room. "Where's the 'we failed' button?"

I sit down. "There's one last trick up my sleeve." I pull out the card and the Heaven scroll.

"What's that?"

I show it to him. "Kabuto figured out how the scrolls work. When one is opened alone, a the jutsu summons a proctor and a genjutsu knocks you out. But when two are opened together, one summons the proctor while the other cancels the genjutsu." I hypothesize, totally bullshitting. I might actually be right, but I have no idea.

Thankfully, Rei eats it up. "That's genius! I thought they might both be some kind of passcode."

I look at Kaito. "We better summon quick so we can get him some help."

Rei nods. I pull the card out and push the last bit of my chakra into it, and then throw it like I did to eliminate that Grass girl. Then I open our scroll and toss it ontop. Chakra smoke fizzes out like a highschool chemistry experiment gone wrong. A cloud of smoke billows out, and... when it clears,...

"A valiant effort! But I'm afraid that alone won't allow me to let you pass this exam!"

"Ebisu-Sensei!?" I gasp.

"Please don't genjutsu us! Our friend needs help!" Rei says.

"You will all be taken for a health examination once the exam finishes, in... two minutes. But for now, prepare yourself! A powerful genjutsu will take hold of you, numbing your senses, and depositing you in inky blackness!" Ebisu yells.

Nothing happens.

We stare at Ebisu.

So

Awkward.

"So can you help Kaito now?" Rei asks.

"SHH! Any moment now, the genjutsu will take hold of you..." Ebisu says. "I wrote this scroll myself, and my knowledge of sealing is vast and complete! This is why I am an elite jonin of the Konoha village!"

Rei and I get massive sweat-drops on our forehead. On his stretcher, even Kaito gets one.

*Awkward*

"Ahem- Aghem!" Ebisu coughs, turning red in the face. "Clearly, some very powerful shinobi has tampered with the scroll- possibly of Kage level or higher! But who could do such a thing- Only the rouge ninja Orochimaru, of course!"

"Actually, it was Kaito." I lie.

Ebisu chokes. "WHAAAAT?!"

"We figured out how the scrolls work by watching another team open one. Then, we created a sealing tag to protect us from the genjutsu." I lie again.

Depression lines cover Ebisu's face. "Bested by toddlers once again..." He rights himself, suddenly happy again. "Well, there is no rule against it!" He says. It must be the great wisdoms I imparted to you, Sarah, during your tutelage with me, that allowed your team to think so creatively and achieve victory!"

This guy is so delusional. How did I tolerate him?

"Now are you gonna help our teamma...!" Rei demands.

"TO COMPLETE your exam, I must congratulate all of you for passing the second exam! You will see that the poem on the wall there means that if you lack physical strength, you must train physically! However, if you lack mental strength, you must train mentally! The combination of these two are the pinnacle of ninja achievement! Also be warned that there will be a preliminary round before the Third Exam. Now, as an important jonin such as me has much work to do, I take my leave."

"WAIT!"

Too late.


	52. Chapter 52:Preliminaries? Sasuke Wins!

Yesterday, Kaito was carted away on a white gurney.

Ebisu, while trying to show off, didn't realize how grave the situation was. But they still won't let us see him. I look over at Choji across the isle. He knows I'm worried about Kaito- we all are. Choji gives me his best reassuring smile, but he's exhausted. We're all about to drop. After we finished the exams, they gave us three hours to shower and prepare for the preliminary round of the Third Exam. Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep, so Rei and I ate a small lunch in silence. Although my idea of small is much different than his.

After that short reprieve, we were marched into a large arena room in two lines, with our teammates.

"Important people and clients watch the battles that occur during the Chunin Exams, and it is important to represent your village well." Hiruzen was saying. It seems the third exam is going to be surviving this boring lecture. I'm already half bored to death, but my apprehension for the upcoming preliminary fights keep me on edge. I'm so tired that I'm swaying back and forth. Suddenly keeping my balance while standing has become twice as hard as I remember.

"Villages that perform well in the Exams get more attention and jobs, while villages that do not lose political power. Leaders and prominent figures also observe new ninja to seek employees. Long ago when the Shinobi Nations were first formed, rather than fight huge battles, nations chose champions to fight on their behalf. Over time, those that survived these fights became known as chunin. We still practice this tradition in the form of the Chunin Exams."

Just let me go hoooome!

"The Chunin Exams could define the nature of your work as a ninja for the rest of your career, but more importantly, how ninja perform in the Exams defines the strength of nations themselves. Bla Blah Blah blah..."

Finally, Hiruzen finishes his latest and most long-winded speech. To everyone's relief, but especially, mine, he is replaced by a jonin with straight brown hair and severe asthma problems on the stage. He stands in front of a large mural of two hands interlocked in the shinobi hand signal for 'peace'. Upon reaching the stage, the man collapses in a fit of coughs. After recovering, he stands and approaches a microphone on a tripod.

"I am Hayate Gekko, your-" Hayate is savagely cut off by another round of coughing that shakes his body. He covers his mouth with his sleeve, and when he recovers, I can see a spot of blood on his arm. His lips are tinted an unusual sparkling red, stained by his own blood. From somewhere, I recognize the disease: He's probably slowly drowning in his own blood as the red substance fills his lungs over time. Which is really too bad- he seems like a nice enough guy.

 _Sorry, Gekko._

"-Proctor for the third and final exam." Hayate finishes. He has a small shock of brown hair hanging down between his eyes. "You may already be aware- but we have to have a preliminary round before the Third Exam. As the Chunin Exam rules state, a preliminary stage can be added to the Exams at any point to reduce the amount of candidates. IT appears the first two tests may have been too easy." Gekko coughs again, this time hiding his face with his clipboard.

"The preliminary round will begin immediately. If you don't feel up to it, now's the time to back out." Hayate says.

Behind us, as if on queue, there's a grunt of pain. "Sasuke!" Sakura whispers. All eyes now seem to be on Sasuke. Sasuke holds his hand up to his shoulder. "You have to quit! That mark Orochimaru put on you is getting worse! Sasuke, quit now before... you get really hurt!" Sakura whines, wiping a tear away from her eye.

Is she seriously crying? You're a soldier! Get over it!

Sasuke grimaces.

"You're in no position to keep on fighting!" Sakura whines.

"Shut up!" Sasuke whispers dangerously. If anyone wasn't watching the interaction between the two before, they sure are now.

"Don't pretend that I don't see you suffering!" Sakura says.

"Excuse me!" Another, louder voice draws everyone's attention. It's the scarily friendly voice of Kabuto. Kabuto raises his hand. "I'd like to back down now." He says.

"Just step right out into the hallway and a proctor will show you to a waiting room." Hayate says, after a moment of silence.

"Kabuto!" Naruto yells. "You're just gonna give up that easy?!"

Kabuto shrugs. "To tell you the truth, I'm just too banged up. I haven't been able to hear in my left ear after those Sound ninja came after me. I just can't do it."

Naruto looks betrayed as Kabuto makes his way to the exit. Poor guy.

"Does anyone else want to quit?" Gekko asks. Behind me, another commotion occurs.

Sakura tries to raise her hand, but Sasuke stops her. "Don't you dare tell them about the mark." Sasuke says.

"But why?"

"Because I need to get stronger. And I will do this by fighting against the best. I am an avenger, and this is my opportunity to grow. This is the path I walk, not the path of you or anyone else-"

"You don't know when to shut it, do you?!" Naruto finally erupts. "She's just saying that because she cares about you, so you can drop the stupid melodramatic emo kid act now. Nobody cares! Oh, look at me, poor Sasuke, I'm consumed by darkness and all sad, blah, blah, blah! The only person who cares is a single teenage girl, and, honestly, you're lucky to even know one person who can stand your negativity!"

Everyone looks shocked at the outburst of bickering amongst team seven.

"Naruto!" Sakura whimpers.

"You can insult me all you want, but you have nothing to back it up! You just sit there barking like a small dog, making lots of noise, but when faced with a challenge you're weak and pathetic!" Sasuke retorts.

"Oh yeah?! Well I'll show you a challenge!"

"HEy!" Rei barks finally. "Bicker on your own time. You two sound like an old couple!"

A few other candidates laugh. Rei turns around slowly, shaking his head.

"You sure shut them up." I whisper to him.

"And Sensei thinks OUR team is dysfunctional." He smiles. I laugh a bit.

"Alright then. We'll now begin the preliminary round." Hayate says, with a small cough. "This round will consist of one-on-one style individual combat between two ninja chosen at random from the group of candidates. The winners of these matches will proceed to the Final Round. A person wins a match when their opponent is soundly and completely defeated,concedes defeat, dies, or is knocked unconscious.

Hayate coughs again.

"I will now reveal your opponents. The names of each pair of opponents are chosen completely at random and displayed on the board behind me before the beginning of each match. The first pair will be chosen now."

My throat begins to constrict slightly at the possibility of being chosen first. Of all the exams, this is definitely the most stressful. Who your opponent turns out to be means everything for your success. I feel butterflies rising in my stomach.

"Let's begin." Our proctor says. Behind Gekko, a large, green panel on the wall flickers to life. The display panel lights up. Two names appear.

'Yoroi Akado V.S. Sasuke Uchiha'

Not me.

"Sasuke!" Sakura whines again.

The fact that I wasn't picked first makes me feel even more nervous.

"Those whose names have been drawn, please come forward. Everyone else, please move to the upper floor." Hayate says. Sasuke and the other ninja make their way up to the front, in front of Gekko. With one last glance at Sasuke, we walk towards the stairs by the entrance that lead to the upper deck that lines the inside of the room, a good thirty feet above the floor.

Kakashi teleports down to Sasuke in the fighting arena to give him a few quick words of warning. "Sasuke," He says, "Don't use too much chakra. It could activate your curse mark. If you do, the Third Hokage will stop the fight. After your match, Jiraya of the Sannin and I will attempt to seal it. But until then, don't rely on your sharingan." Kakashi sunshins back up to the upper deck, between Sakura and Naruto. His students eagerly lean over the railing. Rei and I do the same. Once I notice that Kakashi, Guy, and Kurenai are here, I look around for Yuri, but I can't find him.

Uh oh. does that mean Kaito is in bad condition?

On the other side of the wrap-around upper level, my brother looks down on the match with relative disinterest. He senses my gave and his eyes flick up to meet mine for a moment, before he resumes watching the developments below. I do the same.

Hayate walks to the center of the rectangular floor. "Begin!" He announces. Both competitors draw steely weapons.

Yoroi tosses three shuriken at Sasuke, which he reflects at angles so that they spin back towards Yoroi. That takes incredible skill- Shuriken are very hard to block because they spin, but reflecting them means changing their direction while also keeping them spinning. It's something that most ninja never get the hang of.

Yoroi disappears. He reappears behind Sasuke. Sasuke notices just in time, barely avoiding a vicious punch that puts a small crater in the blue-tiled floor. Sasuke skids across the tiles but catches himself by planting a kunai in-between the cracks of two ceramic tiles. He swings his body around, slapping the back of Yoroi's knees with a sideways kick. He then grabs his waist, pulling him down onto the ground. With a swift and surprising wrestling move Sasuke appears ontop of the tangle of bodies and sits on Yoroi's chest, pulling a punch downwards onto Yoroi's face. Yoroi takes the first one to the nose, his arms pinned down by Sasuke's legs, but the larger man's superior strength allows him to pull free. Sasuke draws a kunai and brings it downwards toward Yoroi's throat.

Yoroi catches Sasuke's fist. Sasuke angles the kunai downward so he draws a line of blood on Yoroi's neck. "Gotcha." Sasuke says. Everyone seems surprised that Sasuke defeated him that quickly. Is Sasuke really that good? When did he get so fast?

Then I notice a small smile on Yoroi's lips. "Oh really?" He says. Yoroi's hands are suddenly covered in a blue fire. Chakra. Sasuke looks surprised.

To my left, where Kurenai's team is watching the fight, Hinata activates her byakugan. She looks surprised. "He's siphoning his chakra!" She says. It's true. Below us Sasuke's chakra seems to be fading by the second. Overwhelmed by exhaustion, Sasuke doesn't react when Yoroi bucks him off, and slams Sasuke into the ground. Yoroi gets to his feet and jumps away while Sasuke writhes.

Why did he jump away? He must have some sort of cooldown time or temporary weakness after using his jutsu. Sasuke finally gets up just in time to catch a flaming, blue knuckle-sandwich from yoroi. Yoroi siphons away a bit more chakra from Sasuke.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke demands, from the floor. Yoroi holds him down, his hand on Sasuke's chest, blue flames flickering up his arm.

"You're just noticing now? I'm taking your chakra!" Yoroi says. Beneath his purple coat and hanging mask, I can tell he is smiling.

Sasuke diverts power to his legs and pushes hard, knocking Yoroi off of him and onto the ground a few yards away. The little avenger gets up, struggles to his feet.

Yoroi runs at Sasuke again, his palms blazing blue. Sasuke dodges deftly, betraying his exhaustion. Eventually, Sasuke almost trips, stumbling away from a glancing blow.

"Come on! Is that really the best you can do?" Yoroi taunts. They both jump away from each other. If I didn't know better, I'd have said that Sasuke is going to lose.

"Seriously Sasuke?!" Naruto yells from the upper deck. "And you call yourself an Uchiha? You're letting this dude walk all over you!"

"Shut up!" Sasuke yells.

Understanding the sentiment, Sakura begins to yell too. "Come on, Sasuke, you can do it!" She cries.

Yoroi runs at Sasuke again. But this time, Sasuke moves with a new purpose. Was it the cheering section that did it? Nope. Sasuke has an idea. When Yoroi strikes at Sasuke, Sasuke creates a few handseals, and then suddenly, he disappears.

What?

Wait! I can just barely see an outline of him, a silhouette...

From behind Yoroi, Sasuke sidekicks him upward, sending his enemy rocketing towards the ceiling. Then, Sasuke jumps up with him, performing a stunning heel kick that sent Yoroi back to the ground like a comet. Yoroi lands hard, cracking the tiles under him, while Sasuke flops onto his black, breathing hard, but conscious.

Sasuke won!

Hayate waits for a moment to see if Yoroi is going to get back up again, and we all wait with bated breath. He doesn't.

The first match of the preliminaries is over!


	53. Chapter 53: Naruto's Victory!

"So. Will you two please tell me what happened out there during the Second Exam?" Yuri says. He pulled Rei and I aside into a sizeable storage closet, away from the other students while the next fight between Kankuro, the hooded sand ninja with facepaint, and Kabuto's remaining teammate.

"We don't really know what happened to him." Rei explains. "I got knocked out while fighting two teams at once, and then... when I woke up, they were all dead! And Kaito was lying passed out in a crater. He hasn't woken up since, as far as I'm aware." Yuri looks worried.

"Is he okay?" I ask. From below us, Hayate announces the winner of the second match: Kankuro.

"We rushed him to the hospital, but he's still not conscious. We don't know when he'll wake up." Yuri says.

Shit. Kaito.

"The medical nins say that only Tsunade would know what's wrong with him." Yuri says.

Oh yeah! Tsunade!

"Well, why doesn't this 'Tsunade' person fix him right up?" I demand.

"Well, you see, Princess Tsunade is the world's best medical ninja, but she's not in the village right now. Nobody knows where she is. But Jiraya of the Sannin might. He was called in to supervise the chunin exams. I'll see if I can get you an audience with him." Yuri says.

Oh yeah! Tsunade!

The gravity of the damage to Kaito finally sets in. If only the Fifth Hokage could save him now...

I lean against a shelf, in thought. Around us are cans of paint of assorted colors and sizes, extra tiles for the ones that get destroyed during fights, and boxes of ninja supplies. The inside of the dark green door has a poster with a smiling face on it. It seems to be mocking our worry for our teammate. I frown.

"Can we go see Kaito?" Rei asks.

"I didn't know you cared so much about him." Yuri teases.

"I don't! I just wanna know how all those enemies got defeated, that's all." Rei says, slightly embarrassed. He takes on a more serious tone. "Now isn't the time for jokes."

In the back of the storage room, Sensei sits on some cardboard boxes, reclining nonchalantly. But I can tell he's scared a little. His pale lavender eyes with now irises wander the roof of the small room. The boxes he's sitting on, I notice, have metal ceramic tiles inside them. I walk over, uncrossing my arms. Rei and Yuri watch me as I open the top flaps of a box. Inside are small, four-inch by five-and-a-half-inch, thin metal plates.

"Those normally cover the floor of the arena when it's being used for training purposes." Yuri explains. I pick one up and toss it around. Not to heavy, and satisfying to hold. I suspend one underneath my palm with a chakra duct. It maneuvers fairly smoothly. Although the edges of the plates are slightly rounded, they should be useable. I heft a box onto my shoulder with one hand, thanks to strongliness, and carry it out of the closet.

Outside, in the arena, It looks like Sakura and Ino are fighting. I don't really care who wins, so I sit with my back against the wall and practice spinning and maneuvering the plates, then multiple plates at once. When I adopted the Chakra Ducts, this is what I had in mind- although I can't pick up and manipulate large items, like chairs, or small items, like sand or dust, I can move these plates to make defensive walls or barriers.

I lift three plates with blue strings, and then six, forming a little protective shield. Then, ten, circling around my fist like a rotating saw blade. Cool. The main issue, however, is the amount I can lift at once, which is small, and that I can't move the plates very quickly.

Over by the railing, Choji and the rest of Asuma's team join Naruto and Lee in observing while Yuri, Guy, Asuma, and Kakashi observe their student's interactions. Below us, Sakura and Ino climb the stairs back up to the balcony while Hayate calls out the next match: Tenten V.S. Temari.

Suddenly, the cheering section roars to life.

"Go TENTEN!"

"WHOOO!"

"USe the POWER of YOUTH!"

"Two, four, six, eight! Who do we appreciate!? Tenten!"

I would say Guy and Lee are annoying, just because I hate loud things, but they're so hilarious I can't help myself from smiling, and feeling slightly more motivated.

On the Arena flooor, Tenten and Temari test each other's strength. Tenten throws a barrage of needles at Temari, but all are blocked by a giant fan. Next, TenTen tries throwing giant scrolls into the air, unsealing hundreds and hundreds of kunai. None of them get even close to Temari, repelled by blades of wind. Finally, Temari goes on the offensive. TenTen throws down ninja wires, making a maze of razor-sharp strings all across the arena, and bounces needles off the strings at Temari. It's very impressive and hard to block because the small projectiles are fast, hard to notice, small, and coming from every angle, but Temari blows all the strings away. One more swipe of the fan and TenTen is finished. TenTen just had an unfortunate opponent.

By this time, I'm starting to get nervous again. I raise and lower the plates in a wave pattern to distract myself, but it's not enough. I'm scared.

The next fight is Shikamaru. I'm interested. I walk over to the railing, eagerly waiting as Shikamaru walks down. If I've learned anything from Shikamaru during training, Shikamaru always wins in very interesting ways.

I mentally celebrate. Of course, Shikamaru won, while keeping up an incredible weakness act. I need to keep that in mind: Shikamaru is an excellent actor.

Next, is Naruto and Kiba.

"Finally!" Naruto slams his fist against the railing. He jumps onto the railing and backflips down onto the arena while Kiba slouches down the stairs. The two approach each other in the center. "Sorry, Kiba, if I blow you away. I'll try to hold back." Naruto taunts.

"Yeah-well- You're going down!" Kiba yells. Kiba's voice is so annoying. "Akamaru and I are gonna put you six feet under, right, Akamaru?!" Akamaru barks in response.

"Well, talking's easy! Let's see if you can still talk at the end of the match!" Naruto points his classic accusing finger. I walk up to the group of spectators and hop onto the railing next to Lee. He smells like optimism. It's gross.

Akamaru sets Kiba down on the floor.

"What!? What's a puppy doing here!?" Naruto yells.

"I never go into battle without Akamaru!" Kiba retorts. "I feel bad for you, so I'm gonna finish you off with one shot!"

Kiba kneels down and makes a handsign. Blue chakra wafts off of him. His muscles bulge, and he quickly becomes more animal than human. Incredibly fast, he jumps forward and slams Naruto in the stomach. Naruto flies away and hits a wall.

"Really, Naruto?!" I yell.

Naruto lies there.

"Just call the match already! It's over." Kiba says to Hayate. Murmuring goes around the balcony between ninja who came to watch the matches and the genin teams.

"Get up!" Sakura yells.

What is going on down there?! And then I remember: yeah, Orochimaru messed with his seal! That's not good at all... He's going to lose!

Naruto lays on the ground, mouth wide open, drooling on the clay tiles. You have got to be kidding me. After all that training. No. There's no way. I start to get angry.

"Get off your ass you pathetic loser!" I yell. Maybe that was a bit too harsh.

"Hey, you don't hafta' be so mean about it. But I appreciate your support." Comes Naruto's voice from somewhere. What? He clearly isn't talking. He's knocked out cold-

ohhhhh.

The Naruto that Kiba punched puffs into a wisp of smoke and another round of hushed muttering circulates the arena. Where is he?

"What!?" Kiba yells.

Then, Naruto walks out from underneath the balcony's shadow onto the arena floor. "Hey, Kiba! Ya missed me!" He taunts, Naruto pulls three shuriken and throws them in quick succession at Kiba. Kiba dodges all of them. They fall to Kiba's feet.

"Just as bad at shurikenjutsu as you were in the academy, huh?" Kiba taunts again.

"Nope." Naruto smiles as the shuriken turn into shadow clones with a puff and descend on Kiba like wild dogs, one holding the other down while the other two attack.

Kiba takes a hit to the ribs before throwing them off and popping them. "Now that you that you aren't hiding like a scaredy-cat, this'll be easy!"

"You'd have a better chance of winning if you just let that puppy fight for you!" Naruto yells, matter-of-factly. Ooooh. Burn. Sick Burn.

Kiba's face screws up with anger.

Naruto laughs, putting his hands in the air behind his head. "You're only angry 'cuz you know it's true!" He smiles brightly.

"You're gonna regret that. Let's go, Akamaru!" Kiba and Akamaru run forward at Naruto together. "Take this!" With his left hand, Kiba hurls three smoke bombs at Naruto. They explode, obscuring Naruto's vision. Kiba and Akamaru jump into the smoke.

Grunts of pain come from inside the purple smoke. Akamaru and Kiba emerge once the smoke clears. But Naruto doesn't. Where's Naruto?

"He's gone again!" Shikamaru says incredulously. Was that another shadow clone too?

"He's one sneaky little runt, isn't he?" Ino comments.

"Stop playing hide-and-seek! You can't hide from me! I can smell you!" Kiba yells. He puts his nose in the air. "You're over... There!" He points to the corner of the arena, underneath the balcony where I'm standing. But then, Kiba looks confused. "What?" Kiba looks around. "I can smell him in the other corner too! And..."

Kiba's eyes go wide as Akamaru jumps at Kiba, Biting Kiba's arm. However, since Orochimaru destroyed Naruto's chakra control, he can't hold on to the transformation for long. It breaks, and a Naruto is biting Kiba's arm. Kiba bashes it and it pops. "Again!?"

"Where are you, Akamaru?!" Kiba yells.

"Right here!" Naruto yells, holding up a limp Akamaru.

"Akamaru!"

"While you attacked me in the smoke, I used a Replacement Jutsu to switch Akamaru with a clone, and then I disguised the clone as Akamaru!" Naruto explains himself.

"Is this really Naruto?" Choji gasps.

"I doubt it, it's probably just another clone." I smirk. "Naruto knows Kiba is stronger and faster than him, so he's slowly wearing him out. This's probably gonna take a while."

I swing my feet back and forth happily. Apparently, the seal Orochimaru placed on him isn't having as much effect as I thought it would. He's doing fine!

"Who would have thought Naruto would be a match for Kiba?" Shikamaru wonders aloud.

"That was amazing, Naruto! You're halfway there!" Sakura yells encouragement to her teammate.

"Now it's time to get serious!" Kiba screams.

"I was thinkin' you never would." Naruto and Kiba stare each other down. Naruto makes a shadow clone, and passes the limp Akamaru over. "Here, hold this."

"Let him go!" The Naruto pulls a kunai and charges at Kiba. But Kiba throws a small, round object at Akamaru. Akamaru swallows it and suddenly swells in size, his fur becoming a dark brown color. The now large dog sinks his teeth into the Naruto that was holding him, causing it to puff into smoke. Naruto stops short of Kiba as Akamaru jumps to his master's side.

"Man-Beast Clone!" Kiba yells. In a puff of smoke, Akamaru transforms into Kiba. In a flash, both attack the oncoming Naruto, which pops with a rather shrill and undignified shriek.

Kiba sniffs the air again. "He's over there!" Kiba yells. Akamaru and Kiba leap towards the far corner of the arena.

"Naruto's toast." Shikamaru says.

But suddenly, Kiba and Akamaru get tripped up by something. Ninja wire! From the shadows, a hailstorm of kunai and shuriken shoot out as Kiba and Akamaru as they try to get to their feet. Both are grazed once or twice.

Then, there's a loud war cry. "Get 'em!" Narutos yell. Ten Narutos burst out of the shadows, kunais drawn, and they swarm over Kiba. Finally, one doesn't pop. The real one. Kiba kicks the real Naruto high up into the air, and Akamaru jumps up into the air for a crushing volleyball smash. Naruto flies to the ground, hitting the tiles with a thud.

"Naruto!" Sakura cries. She's worried about him. That's good.

Naruto gets back up, to everyone's relief. People are actually rooting for Naruto now. The orange ninja crosses his fingers. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The arena is covered in Narutos. Some even puffed into existence on the ceiling or the wall, and they all pull kunai. Kiba doesn't stand a chance. Kiba and Akamaru don't look phased, though. "Man-Beast: Fang over Fang!" Kiba yells. Kiba and Akamaru jump into the air simultaneously, spinning into two grey rotating drills. The drills fly through the ranks of Narutos. It's like shooting in a barrel of fish. Narutos trip over each otehr while trying to dodge, and some push each other in front of the drill to save themselves. It's a disaster.

When there's only a few Narutos left, standing in a circle back-to-back, Kiba and Akamaru strike the group from both sides. The clones puff away but the real Naruto flies away from the impact and cracks the wall where the mural of the two arms are. Then, as soon as Naruto gets up, the second drill hits him, flattening him against the wall. Sakura gasps.

When the second drill runs out of steam, Akamaru and Kiba jump away. But Naruto still gets back up again, seemingly unphased at all. Naruto forms a small clone army and the run towards the two in the center of the arena. Kiba throws somw smoke bombs again and descends on the Narutos with Fang over Fang. But then, Kiba seems to stop.

"Ninja wire!" Kakashi says. A glistening silver wire is attached to the railing a few feet away from me. And now I notice: The kunai Naruto threw earlier all have ninja wire wrapped inside their loops. Naruto tangled Kiba up.

Kiba flies out of the smoke, almost straight up, with Akamaru launched in the other direction. Naruto jumps up after Kiba. "Uzumaki Barrage!" He yells. A clone puffs into existence, pushes off of Naruto, and punches Kiba upwards. Then another jumps upward and does the same, then another, and when Kiba is near the ceiling, Naruto kicks him down with a stunning heel kick to the stomach. Kiba rockets to the ground and smashes through the teal tiles. Kiba loses focus and Akamaru returns to puppy state in a puff of smoke.

Kiba struggles to his feet again, but then falls face-first.

"The winner is: Naruto Uzumaki." Hayate announces. The balcony erupts into cheers once more.

That took far longer than it should have. When Naruto makes it up to the balcony, I make sure to tell him.

* * *

I know Naruto seems a little stronger than usual in this chapter, but think about it- he did just fine against the Rain Ninja at the end of the Second Exam, even with ORochimaru's five-pronged seal in full effect. The seal effects chakra control, but since techniques like replacement and shadow clones don't need much control, Naruto would be pretty much fine. Only things like water walking or summoning would give him trouble. Plus, he's getting some positive reinforcement from Team 15 and he feels more validated by his increased teamwork and acceptance with Team 7. So, it makes sense that he would be able to beat Kiba, who is pretty much known by everyone to be the loudmouth weakling from the start. Also, using two jutsu (EX. clone and transform at the same time) would be extremely difficult, and people in the 'Naruto' series are routinely impressed by Naruto's ability to focus on two jutsu. However, this is false: He isn't using two jutsu at once because he makes a shadow clone, which has a mind of it's own, which then uses the transformation jutsu on itself. That's why people are so impressed but Naruto makes it look easy.


	54. Chapter 54: Neji VS Hinata

After winning his fight, Naruto strolls up to the upper balcony, hands behind his head. "Yeah, I pretty much dominated him." Naruto was telling Sakura, as if it was the simplest fact in the world.

"It was great!" Sakura says. Hinata offers Naruto some healing salve, and Naruto talks to her for a few minutes. Pretty ironic since Naruto can super-heal.

"Did you see that, Sarah?! I crushed 'im!"

"Yeah, but it took you half an hour! Sasuke won his fight in a couple minutes." I say.

"Well- if you can't do any better than me, in your match then I'll never let it go!" He laughs. "I won! I still can't believe it."

Below us, Hayate Gekko, the proctor for the Third Exam, steps out into the center of the large, square arena, signaling the randomizer to choose two opponents. Hayate coughs roughly. "Choose the name for the next match." He instructs in a gravelly, sickly voice, like sandpaper.

Above us on the wall where there is a mural of two arms, conjoining in the shinobi hand signal for 'Peace', names scroll across a screen. They finally settle on two: Neji Hyuuga and Hinata Hyuuga. Behind Rei and I, Yuri stiffens. He's probably loosely related to Hinata or Neji. I don't know exactly what his lineage is, I just know that he was kicked out of the Hyuuga clan years ago. Hinata looks around nervously, and glumly, like she had already accepted defeat. Hinata is so cute I can barely contain myself.

"Are you prepared for our battle, sister?" Neji asks, taking his place next to Hayate.

Hinata stands across from him. "I am, brother."

Naruto looks up from the action below. "Those two are siblings?!"

"No." Yuri interjects, suddenly looking rather weary. "But they are both from the Hyuuga clan, like me. We have close familial bonds."

"So you guys are like one super-huge family?" Sakura asks.

"Not quite: the Hyuuga family is often not a loving one. Hinata and Neji are more like cousins. It's complicated." He says simply. He turns around and leans his back against the railings, ending the conversation. I notice Kakashi give him a searching look. Sensei shrugs.

"It must be hard to fight your own cousin." Sakura says.

"Not as much as you would think." Lee says, interjecting. "I have heard that the two main families of the Hyuuga Clan have been fighting for generations. Neji is in one of the opposing families, while Hinata is in the other. It would be no surprise if they hate each other."

"So it's like this match is a family feud!" Sakura says.

Hayate coughs again. "Now, you may begin when ready." He says, walking away.

Hinata looks pointedly down at her feet.

"A word of advice before we begin, Hinata," Neji says, falling into a Gentle Fist taijutsu stance. "Withdraw, now. You know you were never meant to be a ninja. you're too gentle and allow yourself to be pushed around by others. You feel inferior to everyone you meet. You never wanted to be in the exams, but Kiba and Shino pressured you into it, didn't they?"

"No! You're wrong!" Hinata says, quietly, in her smooth and timid voice. "You're wrong! I wanted to become strong so father would stop looking down on me."

"If you think you can become strong, you can't. You can never change yourself. Just accept your inferior nature. Failures will always be failures."

Hinata looks like a kicked puppy, and I'm getting angry now. I'll put Neji in his place. I grip the railing so hard my knuckles turn white, and next to me, Naruto growls a bit. Sakura looks shocked. Shikamaru snores from the floor.

"I can see clearly what you are with my byakugan. You may improve your looks or your skills by studying, but you will always adhere to your true nature: Failure." Neji berates Hinata.

"You're wrong about me!" Hinata says.

"Byakugan?" Sakura asks Sensei.

When he doesn't say anything, Kakashi takes over. "It's the Kekkei Genkai of the Hyuuga. It allows them to see for miles in any direction, through objects, and even see chakra points. It's a visual jutsu, just like Sasuke's. Some say the sharingan was derived from the byakugan long ago, and if used correctly, the byakugan can easily be the stronger of the two.

Kakashi takes a breath. "Because the Hyuuga can sense and see chakra points, they can expel chakra from any chakra point on their body, while most other ninja can only expel chakra from their hands, feet, or mouth."

Below us, Neji creates a handseal. "Byakugan!" He shouts. All attention returns to Neji.

"There it is." Kakashi says. "The byakugan lets him see in all directions and through objects. He can even see through his own head and see things directly behind him."

"Whoa. That's creepy!" Naruto says.

"Wait?! So he can see into the girl's baths?!" Sakura yells suddenly. I hadn't even thought of that! I want the Byakugan now!

"No, the Hyuuga are required to supply the Hokage with anti-Byakugan seals that only they know for public protection. Although some are talented enough to get past those seals..." Kakashi stops short at Sakura's horrified face.

"My eyes see all, even through your mind." Neji says. "I can tell you are imagining how this fight will happen. And I can tell- you see yourself losing."

Hinata is visibly shaking now, her hands clutched to her chest. She's scared. So scared.

"And the way you hold your arms in front of yourself tell me that you are trying to put anything you can between us, to keep me at bay. And I can see your muscles inside your body. They're locked tight with nerves and fright. Because everything I've said is true! You're doing anything you can to dispel your rising panic. Because you already know you don't stand a chance. You're just pitiful. I can't believe we share the same last-"

"Shut UP!" Naruto yells, on my right. Naruto! "What gives you the right to tell her what she can and can't achieve! Come on, Hinata! Prove to the world he's wrong! Kick his ass!"

After a moment, Sakura joins in. "Yeah! Go, Hinata!" Sakura yells.

"Crush him!" I yell, somewhat feebly. But I'm fired up now.

"Go, Hinata! Show him your youth! You are young, and you have much growth to do! Never think that your springtime of Youth is over!"

"You just gonna stand there?!" Naruto encourages her. "Do something!"

Hinata looks down, steeling herself. The fight is on. Hinata makes 12 hand-seals. "I will not accept abuse from you any more! Byakugan!" Hinata mirrors Neji's stance.

"You get him, Hinata!" Naruto yells.

There is a pause, and then they fly at each other, fists moving so fast I can barely see what's going on. Finally, Hinata scores a glancing blow and the two jump away from each other.

"Even a small touch does incredible damage. That is what makes the Hyuuga Clan such formidable fighters." Lee comments.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asks.

"Their taijutsu is very unique and secretive. Using their proficiency with their chakra points in their hands, they dispel energy into their enemy's chakra points on their body, forcing them to close." Guy explains. "It is very different than the taijutsu Lee and I use, While we focus on the body, the Hyuuga focus on the chakra networks of their enemies. By shutting down parts of an enemy's chakra network, they can no longer channel chakra to that part of the body."

"You can't toughen your internal organs and your chakra network no matter how hard you train. Therefore, all ninja are vulnerable to this kind of attack. However, it does have several notable weaknesses." Kakashi says.

Below us, the fight begins again. Hinata and Neji fly at each other, trading blows.

"Go, Hinata!" Naruto cheers.

"How come it hurts your internal organs if it only attacks the chakra network?" Sakura asks.

"Because your organs need chakra. If Neji stops the flow of chakra to your heart, you won't be able to use your heart anymore and you will die." Lee finishes.

Below us, Hinata and Neji attack each other one more time. But then, they stop. Neji struck Hinata's heart. Blood sprays out of her mouth at the impact and she stumbles backward, trying to stabilize herself.

"That's it, huh?" Neji asks, taunting.

"I', not done yet!" Hinata gasps, stumbling forward. She goes for Neji's forehead. Neji catches her arm, and closes all the chakra points on it. Hinata doesn't move, crippled by pain. Neji quickly blocks three more on her side, and then strikes her down, launching her across the arena. She gets up to her hands and knees, breathing hard.

"You're a failure." Neji says. "This is the difference between an elite and street garbage. Now this is your last warning. Forfeit the match."

"I said I wouldn't run! I'll never go back on my word!" Hinata struggles to her feet, gasping. Blood drips down her chin and onto her jacket.

"I had no idea Hinata was this tough!" Naruto says.

"I guess she's alot like you." Sakura says. "And she's always watching you and learning from you."

Hinata bends over and gasps, spitting out blood.

"You can do it Hinata!" Naruto yells. Hinata sprints forward, engaging Neji in a series of Gentle Fist blows. She stretches her arm out a little too far. Neji catches her, striking chakra points all up and down her other arm, and then up and down her chest. Finally, he finishes with a ruthless uppercut. Hinata stumbles backward and falls to the ground, bleeding.

"Hinata!" Naruto whispers.

"You're finished." Neji says.

But Hinata struggles to her knees. A minute. Then to her feet. So determined.

"If you keep fighting, you're going to die!" Neji says.

"I don't care!" Hinata says.

"Give up the tough guy act. You're barely standing. Accept defeat and you won't have to suffer!"

"I won't! you're the one making yourself suffer by being bitter about being born in the side branch family!"

"You'll pay for that!" Neji roars, racing forward. He catches Hinata's arm.

"You stay away from her!" Naruto yells.

Neji pays no notice to Naruto or to the fact that Hinata can't fight back.

Hinata's going to die if this keeps up. But faster than lightning, Hayate stands in front of Neji, his fist pointed at Neji's forehead. From his knuckles protrudes a blade of wind so condensed it looks solid. "Back off." He says, The match is over." In a flash, the other jonin are down in the arena, prepared to restrain Neji.

Guy rips Neji's hand away from Hinata. "You promised you wouldn't let this whole family thing get you riled up! Get a hold of yourself!"

Suddenly, Hinata doubles over, coughing and sputtering. Blood pours from her lips. Kurenai runs to her side.

"Hinata!" Naruto yells, jumping over the railing into the arena. Sakura, Lee, and I follow him.

After a moment, Choiji jumps down too. "What's going on?"

"Why are you jonin interrupting our fight?!" Neji demands. "Hinata gets special treatment, huh?"

The five of us run over to Hinata. Naruto runs to her side.

"Hey, Naruto." Neji says. "I have two pieces of advice. First, stop your idiotic cheering. It's disgraceful. Second: Once a failure, always a failure. Quit being a ninja."

For once, Naruto has nothing to say back. He just stands, breathing hard. He looks almost... scary. He advances on Neji like an inexorable spectre, his arms out to his side. He's pissed off.

Then, Lee jumps in front of him. "Do not fight him, Naruto. If you do in an unofficial match, you will be disqualified."

Naruto stops short with a grunt, like he was waking up and he was just sleepwalking. He gives Neji a long, meaningful stare, then turns around and walks over to Hinata.

Guy gives Lee a thumbs up and a wink. Lee looks like a kid on Christmas morning.

Behind us, Hinata coughs up more blood. We take a step back to give Kurenai some space as she tries a healing jutsu. Her hands glow green. Meanwhile, Medical Shinobi run into the room with a stretcher. The medical ninja check her vitals. "She's got no pulse!" One yells. They sprint out of the room, with silent nods to each other. After a few minutes, and a heated discussion between Kakashi, Yuri, and Hayate, We move back up to the second level.

"I'm gonna kick that guy's ass." Naruto says.

"I'm sure you'll get the chance." I say, knowingly.

"Look, Sarah!" Sakura gets my attention. She points to the board. "You're up next!"

Sarah Hatake V.S. Rock Lee.

Tension and adrenaline courses through me as I stare at the board for a moment. How the hell am I gonna beat Lee?


	55. Chapter 55 Cringy Fight Scenes

After Hinata's savage defeat by Neji, and Hinata's hurried rush to the hospital, We climbed the stairs back up to the upper level. The upper level, or more like a catwalk, spanned the circumference of the cavernous room, but leaving an empty space for the screen and 'stage'. Below us, Hayate walks out to the center again. "I will now choose the next two opponents." He says.

"I'm gonna kick that Neji's ass for what he did to Hinata. His own cousin!" Naruto growls.

"You'll get the chance," I say.

"Look, Sarah!" Sakura gets my attention. She points to the board. "You're up next!"

 **'Sarah Hatake V.S. Rock Lee'**

Tension and adrenaline courses through me as I stare at the board for a moment. How the hell am I gonna beat Lee?

Kakashi and Guy share a look. A competitive look. Lee and I look at each other, somewhat helpless looks on our faces. Neither of us particularly want to fight each other.

As I turn right to walk to the stairs, Yuri whispers, "He's even faster than you've seen. Be careful. He's a year older than you."

I nod. Behind me, Lee follows me to the stairs. "Good luck!" Choji whispers.

Rei gives me a nod from where he's leaning against the wall in the corner, by the stairs.

I calmly walk next to Lee down the stairs. While walking down, Kankuro passes me on his way up. "Hey! You're Sensei's a Hyuuga just like Neji, right?" Kankuro asks me. "Can you tell me a little about the Hyuuga's powers? I get the feeling Neji wasn't using his full strength in that last fight." He says.

Lee stops and turns around a few steps ahead of us. "Why don't you ask Lee?" I ask, pointing at the notoriously green ninja. "He's Neji's teammate."

"I'm trying to do a little reconnaissance." Kankuro explains.

I nod, understandingly. "He can do this spinny thing where he creates a sphere of chakra around him to protect himself. Around here it's known as the utl-ultimate defense." I say, a little jittery and nervous.

My legs are starting to shake a little. _I can do this. I can do this._

"Ah! Thanks for the tips." He says.

"Also, the Hyuuga can see through objects, including the back of their own heads, and in all directions at once. Their jutsu attacks the chakra system but does little physical damage. Wearing chakra armor would probably help to disperse their strikes." I hypothesize. I want to see Neji go down. And at this point, I don't really care who does it.

"Thanks!" He says, with false kindness. "I'm surprised you're so willing to give up your own village's secrets." Kankuro says.

"Only because he disgusts me." I say, walking past the ninja in the black hoodie and catching up with Lee.

"You did not have the right to tell him that!" Lee says, quietly, as we approach Hayate.

"If he had done his homework, he would have already known. It's no big secret. Any Leaf ninja could have told him that." I say. Lee seems to concede to that point.

We meet at the middle, facing toward each other. Hayate walks up beside us.

"If you prove to be stronger, please don't 'Neji' me." I laugh nervously.

"Only if you do your best!" Lee slips into a taijutsu stance, his fists balled at his waist.

I am so not ready for this.

But if Kakashi can beat Gai, I can defeat Lee.

"Go, Sarah! You can do it!" Naruto cheers. "No offense, Lee, you're cool too." He says again, more quietly.

"Crush him, Sarah!" Choji yells, a fire alight in his eyes and his fists raised. I laugh at that.

Where's Rei? He should be cheering me on too! I look around the second level. Rei pokes his head over the railing, a small smile of confidence on his face. He didn't care about the last few matches, but now his interest is peaked.

As my eyes pass over Kakashi, he offers me an eye-smile. If only I could be as beautiful as he. My Hatake side gives me good looks, but nothing like him...

Focus!

I'm so nervous I keep thinking about everything but crushing Lee. I need to focus.

"Let's make this interesting." I say.

He nods.

"Show her your YOUTHfulness, Lee! Be like a yooung sapling in the wind, able to beend, but never to break! You are yet in the springtime of your youth! So show my rival what we _Youth_ ful _Beasts_ are made of!" Gai shouts. I involuntarily cringe.

"Come on, you aren't going to support your own daughter? How unnnn-youthful!"

"Gai, we've been over this! She isn't mine!"

"Thhat's right, get that blood pumping, ka-kashi!"

Kakashi gives Gai a half-lidded, baleful stare, and then he turns to me. "Woo. Go team." He says, boredly, pumping his fist sarcastically.

The interaction makes me giggle, and a warm feeling spreads inside me because I know that Kakashi's only picking a fight with Gai to help relieve some of my nerves.

I smile broadly.

"You may begin when you are ready." Hayate says gruffly before stepping away.

Lee gives me a serious look with his large round eyes, his thick eyebrows furrowed. "If my Sensei's rivalry with Kakashi-Sensei is any indication, then this will be a difficult fight!" Lee wraps one arm behind his back and pushes one forward, bending his knees. "Therefore, I will not hold back!" Lee says.

I decide to be the first to move. I backflip away from Lee, the world wheeling around me.

Slam! Lee is already there to meet me before I hit the ground, kicking me in the side with a wheeling sidekick that sends me halfway across the arena. I channel chakra to my feet and slide to a stop. As soon as I do Lee is upon me again, with another kick.

How could someone be so fast?

I duck under the kick and stand up, shoving my shoulder into his gut. His body is like solid iron. Lee seems unphased by my attack, and he spins in a half-cartwheel, catching my arm and bringing me down. I spin with him, landing upside down on my hands, and rotate, my legs out to either side, spinning like a top. He blocks one with an arm and dodges the other, jumping backwards away from me.

We face each other. Luckily, this gives me time to recover from the blow to my left ribs.

"Although you may be strong and have a lot of chakra, you are slow and therefore no match for my high-speed taijutsu." Lee states. He's not wrong on that one.

"However, your adaptable ninjutsu makes you a formidable foe. Therefore if I stay inside your guard-" Lee prepares with another taijutsu stance- "You cannot touch me."

"Good work, Lee!" Gai shouts.

"That would work- if you could touch me." I admit, formulating a plan. Those metal sheets I brought out of the closet earlier were mostly for protection against Gaara's sand. But this'll work too.

However, I can't lay all my cards on the table just yet. I cross my fingers. "Shadow-Clone Jutsu!"

Two more me's form on either side of me. As per custom, we check each other out. A little beat up, but lookin' pretty good. I guess. I might have to see about eating less.

"Unfortunately for you, quantity will not best quality!" Lee says.

He moves to run at me, but I take ten shuriken out of my pockets and throw them. My clones do the same, perfectly in-sync. The shuriken, connected by chakra strings, rotate like saw blades and home in on Lee. This should be a devastating attack: Lee cannot use chakra to cut the strings.

All fifty shuriken collide where Lee was about to be, and he dances away. He jumps to the ceiling, and runs across. Then he jumps down at me. I barely jump to the side as he rockets downward with a kick that breaks the floor. He sends a punch my way, and I dodge the first. But it was a trap for the second. Off balance, he swings his fist up and catches me in the stomach. It forces the wind out of me and tosses me a good twenty-five feet before I spin and catch myself on all fours. He's just too fast!

And the fact that he takes a break to analyze between attacks means that he doesn't feel pressured. My clones swing their shrunken in towards him, but somehow he dodges all.

He pops my clones with lightning-fast moves, and then runs at me. I form a shadow clone and together, with chakra strings, we rip up a massive, 2-meter by 2-meter clay tile and launch it at him. He jumps over it.

This old trick. I have a mini-flashback of the first time I killed ninja before we get it in gear and follow the clay square with shuriken. He guards his face and chest by crossing his arms, and he brings his knees up to his chest. Shuriken slice his arms and legs, but he dodges most without serious injury. Unfortunately, he won't be falling for that twice.

Once Lee lands, he shoots at me again. This time a wall of razor-sharp kunai are there to greet him. He kicks off the floor, suddenly changing directions, and backflips twice. I send my wall of Kunai after him. With his own Kunai, he reflects them and survives the encounter with only scratches.

He lands only twenty meters away from me. Again, I lift all the kunai off the ground and the collide where he was standing, throwing up clay dust. Lee jumps away.

"Now it is time to unleash the full fury of my taijutsu!" Lee says. He reaches down to his calves and lifts off his orange leg warmers. Only they aren't leg warmers: they're ankle weights. Lee drops them on the tiled floor. The weight cracks the stone.

He's probably going to be twice as fast now.

I float the box of metal shingles over to me. He watches with curiosity as I lift off the lid. Inside are hundreds of small, square metal plates. I form a shadow clone next to me. The three of us connect chakra threads to the tiles in the box. Then, out of the box shoot a wave of metal, spiraling all around me and my two clones.

I shoot metal shingles at Lee like a machine gun while using some to create a spherical barrier around myself and my two clones. Since we have the same mind we have near-perfect teamwork.

My railgun attack kicks up dust and leaves an entire tile peppered with metal shingles, half-stuck in the clay. Lee speeds around for a high- speed attack. He jumps. "Leaf- Huricane!" He shouts. My metal plates rise up to protect me and my puppetmaster clones. Lee's attack batters some shingles, crushes some, and swipes some away, but leaves me and my crew ultimately unharmed.

We send another volley of shingles at Lee. This time they hunt him down, following him around the arena. A storm of them chases him. Suddenly he switches direction, jumping to the ceiling, and then he turns around toward me. I send some of the shingles protecting me to meet Lee in the middle with a flick of my wrist. I notice- He dodges them. That isn't good. I've used them all for offense and not enough for defense.

I bring them all in, but it's not enough. He's just too fast. His next Leaf Hurricane launches me out of my protective bubble and pops one of my clones. A third of the plates drop with a huge clatter.

lee is on top of me in a blur, punching at my face. I rotate my head to dodge with casual ease and my other clone sends a storm of shuriken and metal after him. It forces him to jump away again.

"I'm sorry, Guy-Sensei, but it's now or never!" Lee mutters. I get to my feet and form another clone, bringing the metal back around my like a cocoon. We leave spaces open for our eyes; we want to see what's going on.

"I said I would not hold back, so I will not. I will end this fight quickly!" Lee says. "First Gate: Gate of Opening! OPEN!"

Shit shit shit

Now that I know what he's doing, I hurl metal plates at him. But by the time they're an inch away from his face he disappears.

My head is forcibly kicked back and I fly upwards through the metal that had protected me earlier. The force of going through metal compresses my body painfully. My jaw cracks, dislocated. Lee's going to use Primary Lotus.

As predicted, Lee appears behind me. White gauze wraps around my body, holding me in place. He's about to spin me and throw me to the ground.

"Front... Lotus!" Lee calls. However I sneak a chakra string through the gauze. It grabs a Kunai and cuts me free. Lee tries to throw me downwards, but I fight back. Between my super strength and his First Gate, we struggle for a moment. But even though we are in the air, my foot finds solid ground. With proper leverage I hurl Lee to the ground. He may have speed, but it doesn't matter if his hits don't hurt.

Lee flies away to the ground, denting the clay and spraying dust into the air, clearly shocked. I stand on a metal platform, held up by eight clones. Oh yeah. My clones can make clones. Between the distance and my weight, they struggle to hold me aloft. The farther away an object is, the less effective a chakra string is at manipulating it.

The clones lower me down to the ground. Maybe I can win this after all!

"You got this, Sarah! You can do it!" Choji yells.

"Yeah, that was awesome! Ol' Bushy Brows doesn't stand a chance!" Naruto cheers along with him.

Lee gets to his feet a little faster than I hoped he would.

"I admit, that was impressive. But still, it was only a warm-up! Second gate of healing! Open!" Lee yells. "Third Gate of Life! Open!"

how many gates does this guy know?


	56. Chapter 56: Meanwhile

**You all forgot about our dear friend Sean! But here he is, he's back! If you forgot, Sean and Sarah somehow switched places, through time and space. More on that later. But now, Sean is on Earth, and in a mental hospital because everyone thinks he's insane! Enjoy this 1,361 word chapter! (What happens on line 137 will shock you!)**

I tap some pressure points on a large, hulking man, and he falls like a puppet with cut strings.

Haley tries not to show her fear, but I can see the telltale signs on her face. While the mind may be an expert in lying, the human body never lies.

"This way." She says. Down the white, pristine hallway, wooden doors are offset to each other to my left and right, all the way to the end. At the end, there is a metal door. It reads, 'exit'.

Haley hurries across the white tiles toward the exit. Everything here is so white.

A guard steps into the hallway with a clipboard. He misinterprets the situation. "Stop!" He yells at me, pulling some sort of device out of his pocket. Wires on the end glow with electricity.

"Matt! Matt! It's okay!" She says, hastily.

He obviously doesn't agree, because he shoots two wires from the device at me. I almost laugh. "You call that a lightning Jutsu? What a joke!" I snort, making four quick handseals. "Lightningstyle: Laser Bullet!" I point my finger at him, and nothing happens. My vision is gone with a flash, and my body goes numb. My veins fill with fire. It spreads from my chakra center and out through my chakra pathways into my arms and legs, searing everything. I gasp, struggling to remember to breathe through the pain.

What kind of jutsu is this?! Did he hit me?!

Once my vision is restored, I scan the situation. I'm barely aware of an alarm going off in the background, a shrill squeal. Behind me multiple people flood into the hall. This is bad. I should expect ninja any second now.

I weave some handseals, but then I notice- the enemy's jutsu never hit! Then what caused the pain? Was it the jutsu I tried to do?

I can't risk it. Another seizure like that will surely knock me out. I'll have to fight with only taijutsu.

This is a nightmare.

The horrified woman, Haley looks between me and Matt in shock and fear.

I get to my feet, using the wall as support. My legs feel like jelly.

"Stay down!" Matt yells. Behind me, the other men and women yell incoherently, their cries bouncing off the walls of the hallway. I have to get out of here!

I run towards Haley and flatten Matt against the wall with a swift Backwards Lariat. I scoop up Haley in my arms and run for the door, carrying her. Behind me, projectiles whizz by and hit the wall.

A grate made of metal bars falls down in front of the exit door. I gather lightning chakra in my right arm, holding the frightened girl with my left, and punch the frame of the grate. In my weakened state, it takes almost all the chakra I have left.

I end up on a fire escape and quickly jump to the roof. Then, with all the chakra I have left, I kick the top level of the stairs off the building. It falls down into the alleyway below.

I'm surprised that it's nighttime. However, just because the sun has dipped below the horizon for it's nightly hibernation doesn't mean it's dark outside. Large, brick buildings and wide, grey streets with tall lampposts overwhelm me. The skies up above are thick with smoke, and the stars are dim. I cough, unused to the thick air, and set Haley down.

She wobbles on her feet. "How the hell did you do that?" She breathes.

But I'm too busy looking around to answer. I've never seen such a large, sprawling city. Buildings are hundreds of meters apart, spanned by fields of trimmed grass in between. Sidewalks and park benches wind through them. On larger streets all around the buildings, sleek, metal machines hum through the night, belching out a toxic-looking gas. Probably the source of the smoke in the air.

Trees nestled throughout the area sway in a light breeze, and, up ahead in the distance shine brighter, taller lights. "Where are we?" I ask, taking in the scenery. I walk to the edge of the building. The drop from the roof is dizzying- a good six or seven stories of brick and stone- that easily rivaled some of the smaller mountain spires back in the Cloud village.

"Greenwood University Mental Health Hospital, to be exact." She says.

"This is a university? Like a school?" I ask, incredulously. "Your school only teaches how to take care of sick people?"

"No, that's just this building. The Barton Science Hall is over there, and..." She points.

"This entire city is one giant school?" I say, rhetorically. "You've gotta' be shitting me."

"Nope." She says. "That over there is a real city." She points to the lights off in the distance. "Pittsburgh."

"You guys sure have weird names for stuff." I say. A blue rolling metal beast captures my attention below. "What's that?"

Just then, a clamor is heard from the fire escape.

"Questions later! I just realized, there's another way to get up here. And the police will be here any minute! We need to go!" Haley says, snapping out of her daze and jumping to her feet. "We need to get down! We can't go through the building, it's in lockdown."

I pull on the last pieces of my chakra. "I got this. But It'll use the rest of my power." I summon the chakra to my feet, and, lifting Haley once again, I run down the side of the structure, carrying her in my arms. She emits a sharp squeal, breathing hard- but once we've made it to the grass, she stops panicking.

I set her down. "We have to get to my car!" She yells.

"What's that?" I ask.

Haley kicks off her high heels. "Follow me!"

I run in bare feet and a hospital gown toward a large, sauare section if grey stone. Here, in between white painted lines, lie giant metal beetles with wheels of assorted colors. She skids to a stop in front of a blue one and opens a hatch in the side of the machine. Noticing a handle on the other side, I pull a second entrance door open. What is this, some kind of vehicle?

Inside lies two chairs, a thousand blinking lights, and other machinery.

My head starts to throb with all this new information and culture. It feels like it's going to explode.

The machine growls and lurches backwards. I grip a handle on the inside of the door to stabilize myself as we move quickly and smoothly away from the building at nearly the pace of a shinobi.

Outside the window, lights and the dark forms of trees flash by, accentuated by tall buildings that loom over everything. I take it all in with wonder. "What is this thing?" I ask, slowly getting used to the movement.

"A car." She explains, while keeping her eyes focused on the path ahead. "A sort of mechanical cart that runs on the power of fire and electricity. Kind of. I'm not good at explaining things."

"You don't use seals, do you?" I ask. By her confused look, I can tell the answer is no. Back at home, I know that new devices like cameras and video screens are powered by chakra seals. But here, without seals, how would technology like that work? I try to remember to ask later. I would have liked to see out the windows, but soon enough, the motion of the vehicle puts me right to sleep. Damn- I used too much chakra.

But, more importantly- should I trust this woman?


	57. Chapter 57: Oh no

**I know I'm making Lee seem a little overpowered, but that's because Sarah is slow and hates taijutsu.**

 **Also, make sure to read fight scenes slowly and carefully. It makes a huge difference.**

"You got this, Sarah! You can do it!" Choji yells.

"Yeah, that was awesome! Ol' Bushy Brows doesn't stand a chance!" Naruto cheers along with him.

Lee gets to his feet a little faster than I hoped he would.

"I admit, that was impressive. But still, it was only a warm-up! Second gate of healing! Open!" Lee yells. "Third Gate of Life! Open!"

how many gates does this guy know?

"Fourth Gate: Gate of Pain! Open!"

I don't have any time to prepare for Lee's next barrage. He appears in front of me, inside my metal barrier as if he had teleported and slams me in the chest with his knee. Then he's gone. Then he's behind me. Then he's gone. Then he's in front of me. Lee unleashes a flurry of kicks and punches from all sides that suspends me in the air, helplessly. I curl up to a ball to protect myself. Luckily, it seems he's moving so fast he can't really see where he aims his hits.

I extend my arm and hit the wall with a string. I tug on it, and shoot towards the wall. Uncurling, I plant my feet and jump back off, fist cocked backwards, aimed at the airborne Lee.

My arm extends toward his face. He's fast. But not fast enough for this.

My hand is protected under the surface with chakra. But my knuckles shatter under the force of the punch.

But my arm gives Lee a place to maneuver. He swings me around faster than the wind. "Leaf Hurricane!" He shouts. His right leg comes down on my chest like an axe. I don't even feel the pain as I shoot to the ground. Tiles break under my back. I can only hear an empty ringing noise. Dust and wind obscures the upper deck and the spectators.

I bounce across the tiles, twisting at odd angles as I roll. I dig a kunai between two tiles to stop the slide.

And then the pain hits me.

I can tell multiple ribs are broken. I can barely move. I'm not even aware of my own breathing as I flutter in and out of consciousness.

I lay there on my back for a while. A little too long.

In front of me, an exhausted Lee sways, barely on his feet.

I have to get up or Hayate will call the match!

"You... fought well. It was a... youthful fight." Lee gasps.

I can't find it in me to respond.

"Since one opponent cannot continue, the fight goes to-"

"Not yet!" I cut Hayate off. I'm not done yet. I have to make a difference. All those people who are going to die... The Fourth Shinobi World War... I need to be strong. And I need to prove that I'm strong. Because in any good story, weak characters are irrelevant.

"Not yet." I growl, mostly trying to convince myself. "I still have chakra left. And as long as I have chakra, I can fight!" Through some miracle, I get to my knees. Then my feet. I hold my damaged hand against my ribs. Definitely broken. My right arm bends at a weird angle at the elbow.

But I'm not done yet.

"You must concede this fight! It will not go well for you." Lee says. I can barely hear him- it's like he's trying to talk to me underwater. My left ear switches between on and off. Me body is shaking.

Slowly, shaking, I make the seal for shadow clones. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" I flood the seal with chakra. Smoke puffs all around me. And they're on the move. They race forward to attack Lee in any way they can.

Only three clones. They pop. Lee is gone again.

How can he still move like that?! How is it possible?!

A flash of green races at me. He leaps, a kick aimed at my face. I try to block but only my left arm responds. My legs fail, and I fall to my knees. This is how I lose. It's over. I shut my eyes tight.

The hit never comes.

Am I knocked out? I open my eyes and lower my trembling hand. Lee isn't here. what is he planning?

I just sit there, on my knees, my face upturned, gasping for air.

Where is Lee? It doesn't matter now. I wasn't strong enough to keep going. _Hayate stepped in and stopped the match._ I realize. I look around for Hayate. He's nowhere in sight.

Then, there's a heavy thud as something hits the tiles with a crushing force. Lee! My head snaps up. It's Lee. But he's on his back? He must have collapsed from using the Gates before he could finish me!

But last I saw him, he was running at me...

My eyes flick over to the spectators for a clue. Sensei stares at me with wide eyes. They all do. What happened?

Hacking coughs from the proctor break the silence.

"The winner is: Sarah Hatake, by knockout elimination."

Rei, Choji, Naruto, Sakura, and Sensei jump down from the balcony, Gai right behind them.

And that's the last thing I see before I'm out cold.

* * *

"Orochimaru! I know you're there!" Kakashi calls into the darkness of the sealing room, uncovering his sharingan.

"My my, Kakashi, how you've grown." The third Sannin steps out from behind a stone pillar. "To think you'd be strong enough to seal away my curse at such a young age... It's too bad you never took my offer."

"I'll never work for you. And neither will Sasuke!" Kakashi says.

"Now that is where you're wrong, Kakashi." Orochimaru chuckles. "You can't stop Sasuke from following the path he walks. Sasuke is the kind of man who will do anything for power." Orochimaru chuckles, stepping towards Kakashi and the unconscious form of Sasuke.

"If you take one more step forward, one of us will die here!" Kakashi threatens, flaring his chakra. His chakra boils around him in the air, a thin blue-silver, raising dust and small, loose stones from the floor.

Orochimaru spreads his arms out to the side, flaring his own chakra. Purple flames surround him, significantly bigger than Kakashi's, but both are still chakra monsters. "The abilities of the Uchiha clan. That is what I'm after. I'll be coming for your eye too, Kakashi." Orochimaru takes a step forward.

"Chidori!" Kakashi blasts forward toward Orochimaru, arm outstretched. Orochimaru pulls a sword out of his throat and points it toward the airborne Kakashi. The sword's reach is longer than the Chidori's. Kakashi ducks, allowing the sword to go over his shoulder, his chidori still aimed at Orochimaru's chest.

Orochimaru jumps backwards and catches Kakashi's wrist, then turns his sword, with a leer of delight, and twists it toward Kakashi's neck. Kakashi catches Orochimaru's wrist, stopping the motion of the blade. Orochimaru opens his mouth, and venemous snakes shoot out, biting Kakashi's neck. Kakashi collapses to his knees, and then, explodes into a lightning bolt.

"Lightning Clone: Avulsion!" The real Kakashi calls from behind Orochimaru.

Lightning zaps through Orochimaru's body, knocking him off of his feet. Orochimaru twists through the air, landing on his feet. "I wasn't planning on killing you yet. But now, I will!" Orochimaru yells, leaping at Kakashi.

Kakashi throws kunai, and then bounces off the roof towards the snake sannin. They swipe at each other, mid-air, and both miss. They turn around to each other, at either sides of the room.

"Striking Shadow Snake!" Orochimaru calls, holding out his hand towards Kakashi.

"Big mistake!" Kakashi ducks under the snakes that shoot toward him, and the snakes lodge their fangs into the wall. "Wind Style: Invisible Blade!"

Kakashi lunges forward under the snake summons, severing them in half from below, and then he swipes at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's sword rises up to meet Kakashi'sl. He bats Kakashi's wind sword away like it's a feeble punch from a younger sibling. Kakashi leaps away once more, a chidori now flaring in his right hand.

"Is your confidence fading now, Kakashi?" Orochimaru taunts.

"Not while I'm around!" Chakra smoke fills the room.

"Jiraya. Welcome to the party!" Orochimaru says, almost jovially.

Next to Kakashi, the toad sannin squats ontop of a toad the size of a small car. "You know me. Parties always interest me, _especially_ if there are lots of pretty, single women!"

Orochimaru smiles. "You're the same as ever, old friend. Well, I'm sorry, but it looks like I can't stick around. I must be off." Orochimaru says. "Can't let this party get out of hand, can we? The police might come." Orochimaru begins to sink into the floor.

Kakashi snarls. "Since you're leaving so soon, why don't you take this as a party favor!" Kakashi runs through handseals faster than the eye can track. "Firestyle:-" Jiraya's toad catches Kakashi's arm.

"He's gone. We don't want anyone thinking something is going on, right?"

Kakashi lowers his hands, and covers his sharingan.

" _I'll be back for you and that eye of yours, Kakashi."_ Orochimaru's voice echoes through the room after his disappearance.

 _"I'm not afraid of you."_ Kakashi mutters, but he doesn't really mean it in his heart.

"Well!" Jiraya's toad puffs away. "Let's inspect that sealing work. And you said your other student needed some of my sealing expertise?"

Kakashi sighs. _That was too close._ "Yeah."

"Well, then, you called the right guy!"

* * *

Suddenly, my dreams filter into a firm darkness. I can feel that I'm somewhere soft. A bed.

"Well, anyway. I brought this fruit, so, whenever you wanna wake up..." Someone says. They yawn. It sounds like they're far away.

My eyelids twitch and open.

"Hey, would you look at that. Of course food is what woke you up." Shikamaru says. He leans against the doorframe. "The doctors have been trying to wake you up for days. They should have just woken you up with some dessert."

"Hey... Shikamaru." I say. My voice is hoarse and rough. He pushes himself off the frame and hands me a glass of water from a nightstand by the bed.

"Thanks." Inclining my head, I drink the water. "How long have i been out?"

Shikamaru looks up, as if calculating. "Oh, a few days, that's all."

"Days!" I gasp, sitting up straight with a jolt. I immediately regret it. My head pounds. I also notice that my right arm is in a cast, and my chest and stomach is covered in bandages.

"You had a couple broken ribs and some internal bleeding. Lee's last move really took it out of you. But if it makes you feel better, your rock-solid abs broke his ankle."

"Liar."

"No, it's actually broken. He's just that strong. And you beat him, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess I did." I smile, despite throbbing pain just about everywhere.

"But seriously. Don't push it. You hit your head, and the doctors say that you disconnected some nerves in your brain, and you have a concussion."

I decide to tilt my head to the left and look out the window through a two-inch slit between the blinds. The sunlight streaming in makes my brain feel like it's melting. I shut my eyes and look away.

"I'm gonna go tell someone you're awake." Shikamaru says.

"Wait!"

Shikamaru stops.

"How did Choji do?"

Shikamaru sighs. "He lost. It was a bad match-up."

"Oh." Yeah, I don't remember him winning in the anime... I was hoping maybe my appearance had cause something to change. But then again, I haven't really done much for Choji.

"Get some rest." Shikamaru says, walking out into the hallway, hands in his pocket. "Oh, by the way. Choji's here too."

"In the hospital?"

"Yeah. Nothing bad. Asuma-Sensei promised him all-you-can-eat barbecue if he fought well, and now he has a bad case of , and one more thing. Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary."

"What do you mean?"

"Someone tried to break in to Sasuke's hospital room and kill him after the preliminaries. And yesterday, two bodies were found: That sound ninja, Dosu, and, and the proctor of the third exam."

"Hayate?!"

"That's the one." Shikamaru turns to leave. "Keep your eyes open."

 _I'll rest for today,_ I think. _And then tonight, I'm outta here._


	58. Chapter 58: Training

I stare in horror at the tiny meal the nurse gave me.

"And don't even _think_ about trying to escape!" He was saying.

"This is barely a snack! I'm gonna starve to death if I don't!" I wail.

"Good! You Akimichi types give us doctors nightmares. But seriously. Stay put. You're in no condition to be walking around, and after we lost that Uchiha kid this morning... The boss is gonna kill me if we lose another!"

 _Sorry. It's nothing personal. But I NEED more food than THIS!_

 _what? They lost Sasuke? Typical._

All they gave me is a tiny bowl of rice and pork and some soup on a tray. Choji wouldn't even consider it worth his time to eat this miserable excuse for 'dinner'. I wish I still had that basket of fruit that Shika gave me...

The nurse leaves the room. I eat the food in a few milliseconds and begin planning my escape: The window right next to my bed. You'd have thought they would've learned by now- shinobi are people of action, not content to sit around and do nothing. We have to do something at all times. It's one thing all ninja share. And blank, white rooms with no entertainment are not great places for ninja. They've been escaping through the windows since the Konoha General Hospital's conception.

With a bit of effort, I slide out of bed and walk to the window. The sudden movement sends spikes of pain through my head and ankles. I stand paralyzed for a moment, fearing a gasp of pain would escape my lips. None such noise came.. The medical shinobi fixed me up pretty good. I probably would have been released in another day or two.

But since the Third Exam is only a month away, I can't afford to waste any time. Well, maybe I can waste a little.

I slip into my clothes from the wardrobe and grab some shoes, and then jump out the window and land in the hospital's courtyard.

A slamming noise comes from behind me. "I knew it! Get back here!" The nurse jumps out of the window and sprints across the courtyard. He is a medical _ninja,_ after all. But since medical ninjutsu is so hard to use, most medical ninjas spend all their time on that and not ninjutsu or taijutsu. The vast majority know only enough to pass genin exams. However, being a medical ninja is fairly safe, and, they make the big bucks.

I create a Clone Jutsu without handseals and pour far more chakra into it than necessary, releasing chakra smoke into the air. Since I didn't properly use seals, no clone was formed. This serves as a small smoke screen. I try to cross my fingers to make a shadow clone, but my cast and intense pain from my right hand blocks me. Oh yeah. Shattered my knuckles and all the bones in my palm. Oops. This isn't good.

The nurse is almost ontop of me. With a flick of the wrist, a cobblestone in the stone path of the courtyard rises up and he trips on it. Nice one! He falls on his face.

Laughing a little to myself, I leap over the green stained walls of the courtyard and into the streets of Konoha. The lights of streetlamps and paper lanterns hanging from gargantuan tree branches hurts my eyes, but I get used to it.

Few are out and about this time of night, milling about through the streets. The Konoha Hospital is in one of the oldest parts of Konoha, near the center of the city, where the Hashirama trees are few and far in between. Only in the newer sections, like where the Akimichi Compound is, do the trees form a thick ceiling almost a hundred feet off the ground.

After a couple steps, a wave of pain and nausea hits me from all the acrobatics I just did. But I can't turn back now- there are two questions I need to answer.

How did Rei's match go?

And what happened to Lee at the end of our match?

And I need to visit Kaito. I haven't seen him since the Second Exam. But if I go back to the hospital, they'll just chain me to a bed again and I won't get any of my questions answered. Also, I probably should've checked on Choji.

Then, I stop walking. Where am I even going? I don't know where Sensei lives! Or anyone on our team, for that matter. I don't really know anyone here. Well, anyone who witnessed the fight, anyway. I do know the Third Hokage, but I don't think I should bother him in the middle of the night.

But I do know where Kakashi lives. I spin on my heel and head toward Kakashi's apartment.

Coincidentally, it's just twelve blocks from Naruto's house. As I walk down the street between empty stalls and closed shops, a light wind rustles papers and other trash up from the street. Pale, cheap metal street lamps flicker above me. This isn't the nicest place to live in a traditional way, but it's beautiful in it's own special way. Why Kakashi lives here, rather than in a mansion, I have no idea. Kakashi was rich- or at least, he could've been, back before he had students. Being a ninja is a lot like being a professional football player- either you make it big time or you don't and you drop out. Also, you have to be good at kicking things, but that's besides the point. While ninja don't make as much money as sports players, they are in higher demand than sports players and therefore get their paychecks more often. A talented jonin like Kakashi could take an A-rank mission solo every couple of days. Football players often play once a week or every other week.

Although Kakashi's apartment is on the top floor, the entrance is from the outside. I climb the cracking concrete steps. At the top, A maroon red door awaits me. I tap on it. then again, louder. Even though I can't feel him, I'm sure he's home.

Wedging my foot against the railing on the stairs, I push against the door with my left shoulder. I squeeze my eyes tight. After an unattractive grunt of exertion and a couple seconds, the door budges inwards with a squeal of shearing metal. The door falls inwards, the hinges torn in half. Ha. That'll teach him not to ignore me.

Then, I'm blown off my feet. A jet of wind blasts out of the doorway and shoots me through the railing behind me. Pain flickers through my spine as I fly backwards off the concrete steps. My stomach rises into my throat as I enter open air.

A hand catches mine before I fall five stories to the streets below.

"You idiot!" My savior says. A hand covered in fingerless gloves with metal protectors hoists me back onto the ledge.

Adrenaline is still spiking through me as the metal railing clatters down in the alleyway. "Do you always wear gloves to bed?"

"You should've known I have seals protecting my home!"

"Well, you never told me!" I defend myself.

"I also never told you that you could show up at my house in the middle of the night." Kakashi sighs, pausing for a moment to think. "Come on, let's go in."

Kakashi leads me into his apartment. he's wearing a black track suit with white stripes down the sides and navy shinobi pants. On his feet are little dog slippers with little ears and noses and everything. So cute!

Kakashi's apartment is simple and clean. The front door leads to a sitting room with a green couch and a TV. The couch has little black shuriken all over it. There's a door to the right that looks like it would lead to a closet or bathroom. The TV is on the left, framed by windows on either side. The blinds are drawn. Kakashi likes his privacy.

In the corners are potted plants of various sizes and shapes. And on the coffee table is a small yet adorable spiky cactus.

Straight forward from the sitting room is a kitchen/ dining room combo with a table and three chairs. In the kitchen, the wallpaper changes colors from dark green to white. A cheap-looking oven and refrigerator recline against the left wall. To the right of the kitchen, there is another doorway. Small pipes line the corners where the ceilings meet the walls, giving the living space a rustic but industrial look.

"Please take off your shoes." Kakashi says. Oh yeah. My shoes. I kick them off onto a towel by the door. My feet hit the uneven hardwood floor.

Kakashi pulls a chair out from the dining table and I sit while he busies himself, making tea. "I've been wondering when you'd show up, ever since the match."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"The way you defeated Lee- you know that wasn't normal." Kakashi places a kettle full of water on the stove and then turns around after lighting it. I notice that he covers his sharingan eye with gauze at night. The headband must be uncomfortable, since the inside of it probably pokes him in the eye.

"What even happened?"

Kakashi sighs. "Well, why don't you tell me what happened after Lee kicked you out of the air."

"Well, I got back up, and made shadow clones, and then Lee attacked me, and when I looked up again, he was gone."

"You didn't feel any sort of... discharge of chakra, did you?" Kakashi asks.

"I was such a mess, there's no way I could've." I say. Gingerly, I reach down and touch my broken ribs. The doctors pretty much healed it, but the newly grown bone is tender and painful. They really gave me the works, since I can't afford to waste time right now.

"I see." Kakashi seems in thought. "There is one thing that I would say it could be, but the characteristics didn't show up."

"Can you just say something that makes sense?"

"What I'm about to tell you is an ancient clan secret. So don't even think about telling someone else. Especially not Choji."

I nod, eagerly.

"There is a sort of kekkei genkai that belongs to the Hatake Clan. It is very rare and shows up only once in a few generations. But whoever gains this power becomes the clan head, and their children rule until the power is gifted to someone else."

"Are you saying I have a kekkei genkai?!" I stand up quickly, shocked. My chair flies backwards across the room.

Kakashi seems unfazed. "No. I'm just saying it's a possibility. The power is called 'Silver Chakra.' However, so few have possessed it and it effects people so differently that it is poorly documented and mostly unknown. Most historians either don't know about it or think it's a myth."

I stoop over and pick up my chair, the shock mostly over with. But adrenaline still courses through me. A kekkei genkai? No way! That would be awesome! So, incredibly awesome-

"Don't get your hopes up." He says. "It's just that out of the two possibilities that could explain what happened, interference or White Chakra, I want to believe that you have a special power more than I want to believe that someone interfered in your match."

"How does the power work?" I ask.

"Nobody really knows. The one thing that we do know, however, is that it effects each user differently based on their personality, but always involves the movement of physical objects. Legends say that there was a woman who could make any object she looked at go up or down as fast or as high as she could imagine. All she had to do was think the word, 'up', or 'down'."

"Whoa." I say. "I wanna do that."

Behind Kakashi, the tea kettle boils. He pours tea into a mug for me and produces a teabag from a drawer.

"However, there is always one thing in common: Users of white chakra always have glowing white eyes when they use their ability." Kakashi says. "I don't know if you were using white chakra, because your eyes were closed and hidden behind your hands."

I want to believe it. I really, really, really want this power! This could give me the power to change everything! The ability to make anything I see move up or down at any speed I wish... I could send the moon out of orbit or even launch people into space! Or, smash them into the ground! Provided, I have enough chakra and talent to do so, which, although I'm doing pretty well in both categories, would probably not be enough.

"And then there was my father. He could create barriers of his chakra with his mind." Kakashi says, reverently, but with a twist of spite.

I'm so exited, I have to say something. "You know Sasuke ran away from the hospital this morning, right?" I paw the warm mug between my hands.

"Yes, we planned that out. He was supposed to meet me tonight so he could start his training for the final exam, but then you pulled a Sarah, so I sent a shadow clone to begin his training. Now, since I'm leaving to train Sasuke tomorrow morning, I would like some sleep." Kakashi stands, stretching elegantly.

"Wait! But I have so many questions!" I protest.

"Now, now, I can't go favoring other ninja's students over my own, you know. So, I've called in a favor with Gai."

"Gai?!"

Kakashi nods. How his hair doesn't flop when he does, I have no idea. "I've already talked to him, so there's no need to worry. He should be showing up at your place at about nine tomorrow."

"NINE? GAI?! Don't just brush me off onto Gai! Train me yourself! You're the only one who knows how to detect this power!"

"Maa, it will all be alright. Gai has been properly instructed. Now, I suggest that you get some sleep as well, or else training will be extra hard tomorrow."

Why me?

Curse you, Kakashi!


	59. Chapter 59: Confidence

**For people having trouble imagining what Sarah looks like, she looks like Kushina Uzumaki but with silver hair and brown eyes, and Sarah wears her headband loosely around her neck like a necklace. In part two, she will wear her headband on her forehead like a normal person.**

 **also, Naruto geography is interesting. As I am studying Environmental Science, I have changed the canon map slightly to make the characteristics of each country possible for real life.**

 **heres a list of some of the strongest characters we've met:**

 **Hiruzen**

 **Kakashi**

 **Guy**

 **Yuri**

 **Asuma**

 **Choza**

 **Iruka**

 **Lee/Kaito**

 **Sasuke/Neji**

 **Sarah/Naruto**

 **Choji/Shika/rei/**

 **Sakura**

In hindsight, I should've been more prepared. I mean, it's not what I hoped for, but it's something. Mom woke me up in a panic when Gai arrived. "This is a huge opportunity!" She had said. The Noble Green Beast of Konoha gets around.

But something's up. As we walk towards the outskirts of the village, Gai seems almost... normal. If you can ignore the green spandex suit.

"Feeling unyouthful today?" I ask sardonically.

"Quite the opposite, my young and youthful student!" He bellows, attracting attention. I wince. "But when my eternal rival Kak-ashi is serious about taking an interest in the youth of Konoha than I must as well!"

Finally, the paved road turns to packed dirt and the buildings get smaller as we travel through one of the two only roads that safely navigate the Forest of Death. Gai makes a right and jogs off into the woods. "Where are we going?" I wail, huffing along behind him. The huge trees and dangerous everything brings back bad memories and I shake my head to clear out the bad thoughts. They come with the job, I suppose.

"Follow me, noble silver beast!" He crows.

"I was really hoping I'd never have to see this place again." I say, hopping through the forest with him. This place is like Australia: Everything that is alive here wants to kill you. I'd much rather be up north in the land of snow where bugs and nasty mosquitos and poisonous plants don't exist.

We fall out of the trees into a large clearing of short grass. It almost seems friendly. In the middle is a spire of rock. Around it is several boulders. The forest lies silent. "Where is Lee?" I ask.

"I am not sure myself. How un-like-Lee to do this!"

I giggle to myself. Ha. Unlikely.

He kneels down in the moss, eyes brimming with tears. "How could he abandon me like this! What about his training? Am I a bad-"

"Dyanic.. Entry!" Lee appears in front of us in a shroud of smoke. "It is me, the handsome Green Devil of the Leaf! I am Rock Lee!" He shouts, flashing a twinkling smile. He gives us the most extravagant thumbs-up I've ever seen.

"Yes, Lee!"

"Gai-Sensei!"

They run to each other's arms, tears streaming down their faces. A beautiful sunset blossoms behind them. Seriously? What happened to taking my training seriously?

"Lee! I will never doubt you again, my youthful student! You learn so fast that even I was did not expect this sudden leap in progress!"

"Thank you Gai-Sensei!" They separate.

"Now, Lee, show our new student your might!" He says, with a thumbs-up.

"Yes Gai-Sensei!"

This was a mistake. I turn to leave but a green wall appears in front of me. "Are you walking away from a fight against your rival?" Lee says.

My eyes widen. He wants a rematch? When I won during the Exams it was just a fluke... an aberration. I can't win again, especially without those plates. But even then, the use of so many chakra strings at once almost killed me. Normal chakra strings can't just pick up anything they want: they can only attach to puppets that have puppet seals on them. Mine are multipurpose, but they take more chakra. That's what makes Chakra Strings a forbidden technique.

"Are you challenging me to a fight?"

"Now, Lee, I appreciate the attitude! But you can't train if you've already beaten each other up!"

Lee and I stand next to him.

"Your goal will be to reach that mountain!" He says, pointing off into the distance. Through the trees, I can see small ridges peaks rising beneath the blue sky. The mountains that span the boarder of the Land of Fire and the Lamd of Rain. These mountains prevent the moisture from the Lamd of Rain from crossing into Fire boarders, meaning that storms get stuck into the small country and rage for months at a time.

"You'll have one week, starting immediately! Once we reach the peak of that mountain, your training will begin for real!"

"Yes Gai-Sensei!"

"No. I refuse."

The distance from here to the border is around 700 miles, but because the mountain has ridges and curves, the distance to the particular peak in question is only around 400 miles away. That means we'll have to cover around 55 miles a day. Normally, a non-Akimichi/Nara ninja could cover about 35-40 miles a day by walking, meaning that we'll have to run the whole way.

"I'll see you there! Your time starts now!" Gai sprints away through the forest after giving a thumbs up and a blinding smile. Lee, caught up in the energy, wishes me luck hastily before sprinting away, kicking up a wind that blows my hair all in my face. I spit a strand out of my mouth unglamorously. Running sucks.

Back in the Leaf village, Naruto sat by the edge of a pool, sunglasses on, a fruit smoothie in his hand and his typical orange button-down unbuttoned, displaying his slowly- forming muscled chest. He wore yellow swim-shorts with a red flower pattern. He dangles his feet in the water, entertained by the splashing sounds.

Sakura and Sasuke spar in slow motion on the surface of the water. Sasuke has chosen to wear a long- sleeve blue collared shirt and light blue shorts, an odd combination, while Sakura tried to keep up with him in a pink sundress with dangerously low cleavage.

"Why can't you dress more like Naruto?" Sakura suggests breathlessly, as the two go through the motions.

"Stop distracting me." Sasuke flips over Sakura and jabs at the back of her neck, a would-have-been debilitating hit. But he pulls the punch so he just barely taps her. She blushes.

"I win again." Sasuke walks away, stretching his arms above his head. He decides to try balancing on the end of a pool noodle with one foot.

Sakura frowns as she watches her crush ignore her, not with spite, but just disinterest. She sighs. At least she was better at water walking. Before she could show off to her team when she was the only one that could, but now that Naruto and Sasuke could walk on water too she felt just as useless and uninteresting as ever.

Sasuke looks up from his noodle. "Naruto, you said you'd fight me. That's the only reason I'm here."

"Yeah, well, the water feels nice!" He says, kicking a splash at him. He jumps over it tactfully.

"I'm supposed to be training. What a waste of my time."

Who was Naruto to deny Sasuke a fight? Of course, Sasuke thought, it was only to test his techniques so he could ensure a victory against Naruto in the Third Exam. If Naruto got that far. A second voice in his head asked Sasuke why he expected Naruto to defeat Neji. 'It's only a precaution,' he thought. 'To cover all bases. I shouldn't take a risk that I don't to,' he said, crushing that voice that said Naruto was strong. A ghird voice suggested that he wanted to fight Naruto for real, as a genuine rival.

Sasuke crushed that voice too, eyeing the blonde' relaxing figure. Sasuke was aiming higher than Naruto. He had bigger fish to fry. 'The day when I make it my goal to defeat Naruto will be a sad day indeed,' he thought. Sasuke snorted. That idiot would never make his equal.

Naruto, of course, knew nothing about Sasuke's plan to observe his techniques up close. However, he had just eaten an overly-sweet popsicle and was feeling somewhat sick. Not that would admit this weakness to his rival of course.

Sasuke, apparently, grew bored and skunk to the edge of the pooldeck, hands in pockets, and leapt over the fence.

"Sasuke! Wait!" Sakura called, but he was gone. Off to train with Kakashi, she suspected- of course, Kakashi would prioritize his prize student over the rest of the team.

Sakura punched a small dragon inflatable in frustration, kicking up a splash that rained water in Naruto's smoothie. He let out a yelp. The dragon floatie burst at a seam, letting out a pitiful whine as it deflated.

"Hey! You got water in my drink!" Naruto protested.

"Not my problem."

"Some little brat probably peed in there!"

Sakura looked at the water under her feet with newfound disgust. "It was probably you."

"Hey!"

"You're still in the tournament, right?" She suddenly changes the conversation. Naruto falls for the bait, eager to brag in front of his childhood crush.

"Yeah, why?"

"Do you know what you're gonna do? Against Neji?"

"Nahh, I've got plenty of time!" He says, eying his drink suspiciously. "I'll figure something out."

"Well, you know Hyuugas don't have that much chakra." Sakura points out, her index finger i the air. "But you have a lot, right? Maybe you could do something with that."

"Hyuuugas?"

"Neji's clan, moron."

"Right!" He says, with a goofy grin. "Maybe. But I'll win either way, you'll see!"

"That would be amazing if you could, Naruto. But even if you could win, you'd probably forget about the tournament and not even show up."

"Yeah, I'll send a shadow clone just in case so..." Naruto smacks his closed fist into his open hand like he was playing 'rock, paper, scissors'. "Thanks for the idea, Sakura!"

"Sure..."

A few hours later, Kakshi sat on a boulder ontop of a rocky outcropping. The Land of Fire was known for it's volcanic activity, and before the time of ninja, huge volcanoes populated the area. However, over time, they disappeared and weathered away, leaving their hard cores of denser rock as tall plateus and mountains dotting the country. One of these cores had four hokage faces on it. Another had a Kakashi on it.

Rather than look over the majestic valley, Kakashi preferred to read the romance novel he had picked up along the way. He had nearly finished it while waiting for his belated student. What happened to Sasuke? Kakashi turned the last page, and then set it down in the grey rock next to him. Forming three hand-signs, his right hand lit up with lightning. He melted the book in half, straight down the middle, and then tossed its charred and burning remains off the cliff in front of him to its death 200 feet below. Yep. He still got it.

Now, Kakashi had nothing to do.

"Sorry for the wait." Sasuke a low drawl came from behind him.

"Ahh, Sasuke. How nice of you to show up!" He said, sweetly. But anyone who actually knew Kakashi knew that tone was a threat. "Would you like to stop and smell those flowers?" Kakashi suggested, motioning to a mountain laurel bush to his right. "Or would you like to get started with your training?"

Sasuke showed no reaction to Kakashi's teasing.

Kakashi sighed. "So that's how it's gonna be." This is gonna be a long month. Bit it'll be worth it, if he could get Sasuke to learn this new trick. Kakashi stride forward, standing on the l edge of a rock that jutted from the rock face. "Follow me!" He said, and leaned forward. "Oh, and by the way: you ca. Only use your left hand and right foot."

Sasuke' eyes widened as Kakashi tumbled off the edge of the mountain. His Sensei was strong enough to catch himself of the sheer face of the cliff below. Sasuke was not. It would be a long climb down for him.

Neji diverted six more blindingly fast attacks, his feet shuffling across the wooden floorboards of his home's training room. The oldest of the five that the compound offered. The boards were worn smooth by the bare feet of generations of Hyuuga shinobi. His uncle spun, drawing closer. Menu could only keep up for so long. The older Hyuuga landed another hit, smacking Neji in the chest. Rather than focusing and inserting his chakra into Neji's chest Hiashi let it expand into the air with little control, creating a small explosion as his chakra rapidly expanded from a the small, dense container of his fingers to the huge container of open air. The explosion wasn't visible, as the chakra wasn't vast, but it was enough to throw Neji off his feet and onto the wooden floor. Neji sported multiple bruises now.

"I think you've had enough." His shirt said, callously.

"No." Neji said, climbing onto his feet.

"You will address me with my proper title." Hisashi said, sweeping at Neji's leg to punish him for speaking out of line. Neji attempted to jump the kick, but only his right foot made it clear of his attack. Neji fell on hands and knees.

"Especially after that stunt you pulled with Lady Hinata in the Third Exam. It is clear you think of yourself as more than you are. A member of the branch, but a skilled fighter. Nothing more."

"It was a fair fight." Neji protests.

"When I desire your opinion, I will ask for it." Hiashi says, unwrapping the tape around his knuckles and striding towards the sliding rice-screen door. Neji was left in hands and knees, panting on the floor.

A member of the branch family. Nothing more, his uncle had said. After his uncle had left the room, another man entered, in black robes with a white trim. Hotaku. Another Branch member, a chunin, with the Hyuuga's characteristic serious disposition. Although Hotaku was focused and proper like the rest of his family, he was also abnormally social. Neji hated it.

"Training yourself out of consciousness once again, cousin?" Hotaku asked. All Hyuuga were cousins to some degree, although most by marriage. Medical ninja eliminated genetic abnormalities caused by the Hyuuga's rather restricted gene pool. This kept the family's minds strong and their Kekkei Genkai even stronger.

"Huh." Neji said, picking himself off and pretending to focus on removing a splinter in his forearm. Both knew that the gym had been stripped of splinters long ago.

"Are you worried about your exams?"

Neji almost laughed at the thought. The idea that he should be worried about fighting that blonde runt was laughable. A joke. But still, it was true, he felt a bit uneasy somehow. It was in that look he got when he put his pathetic cousin Hinata in her place. That demonic stare. Neji put it out of his head. Naruto could glare all he wanted, but Neji could show him what a true demon looked like.

"Not a chance." Neji said, working his way towards the door and picking up his canteen of water while Hotaku poked around a weight rack on the far wall.

Hotaku chuckled. "You sound very sure of yourself, cousin."

Neji paused in the doorway, his hand on the door. "It is fate, after all, which will determine my victory. One must have faith." And with that, Neji slopes away down the wooden hallways.


	60. Chapter 60: How to Block out the Sun

**Just kind of struggling through the exams... but once we get through this the exiting parts can start.**

Kakashi watched with mild interest as his student heaved with exhaustion and breathlessness. Sasuke wiped the sweat away from his mouth with the back of his hand, and then the perspiration on his forehead with his palm.

Finally, two fully-formed chidori. Sasuke sank to his knees, leaning against a boulder behind him.

"Well done, Sasuke." Kakashi praised him. In front of the duo, the cliff that they had been climbing with a single arm every day was pockmarked with craters from Sasuke's efforts. Now, with the ability to pierce Gaara's defenses, the Leaf had a decent chance of winning the chunin exams this year.

* * *

Naruto was almost content with his training. Almost. Jiraya had done a fine job of teaching him over the past month, in his opinion. Better than Kakashi at least.

"Come on, Ol' Pervy Sage! Train me! The exam is next week! I can't afford to be sitting around like this!" Naruto protested.

"The exam is in two days, not next week." Jiraya said, flippantly. Naruto looked dumbstruck. "Now quiet down before you scare the ladies away! You're supposed to be practicing _water walking._ "

"I already know water walking! Teach me something I don't know, like how to use seals."

"Well, I do know one. It's called the Transformation Jutsu! You could use it to sneak into nightclubs and bars and-"

"That's not a seal! Besides, We learned that in the Academy!" Naruto yelled, earning him and his sensei attention from the bathing women on the other side of a thin wooden fence.

Jiraya knew he should have shushed his student, but he couldn't pass off the opportunity. "You learned to sneak into nightclubs in the Academy? They sure do start 'em young these days..."

"That's disgusting!"

"Seals?" Jiraya raises an eyebrow. "Fine, fine. I'll teach you. It'll be boring, though. It won't be as cool as the toad contract."

"What?!" Naruto seemed scandalized.

Jiraya seemed in thought. "Well, I could teach you if you bring me back a plump girl with curves like we talked about before- and not a watermelon this time!" He said.

Naruto eyed him suspiciously. "Are we talking about the same person? I hope not, 'cuz she's thirteen!"

"What!? No! Someone _else, less like thirteen and more like thirty-one!"_

* * *

I wasn't particularly worried about fighting Kankuro in the exams tomorrow. Or, at least, I wouldn't be, if not for a lesson Iruka-Sensei had taught us ages ago: ' _The more specialized the jutsu, the stronger it will be!'_ It was one of Iruka's catchphrases, like ' _less of anything is always worth more!'_ and ' _Narutoooo! I know you did it!'._

For the last month, my plan was basically to take control of Kankuro's puppet using my superior chakra and my own strings. Now, a day before the exam, I'm having my doubts: although my chakra is probably more potent, Kankuro's strings were meant specifically for puppetry. Mine aren't. That difference might cost me the match, and so this past month I've focused on other strategies.

* * *

Up ahead, the walls of the Leaf Village tower over the trees, finally in view. The Konoha Wall is made of wood: tall, thick trunks ten feet or more in diameter, and covered with colorful plaster and metal. Back in the old days of Konoha's conception, the railway from the Capital wasn't built yet and so commodities like dyes became expensive. Therefore, colorful houses were a statement of economic power. The fashion trend still sticks to this day.

Lee turns to me, a fist raised to challenge me. "My rival! How about a race to the village gates! The last one there is a rotten egg!"

"I like that enthusiasm, Lee!" Gai encourages.

"No thanks."

"How could you walk away from such a youthful challenge?!" Lee cries.

I shrug. I just wanna get home, and sleep in a real bed for once... and eat real food. every morning, Gai and Lee emerged from their tents at 5 AM in a blaze of enthusiasm to drink their morning spinach smoothie. After that, it was stretching exercises for an hour. Lee and Gai felt the need to actually say, 'One! Two! Three!' and so on after each toe-touch or jumping-jack with glee. It was all I could do not to jump from the lofty peak of the mountain and crash down on the rocks below. In short, the past month was a nightmare.

Was it worth it? I guess we find out tomorrow, right?

Gai greets Izumo and Kotetsu, the guards of the Konoha Main Gate, with a huge thumbs-up. They sheepishly attempt their own half-assed thumbs-ups to satisfy Gai. He seems placated.

At first, my options of eating, sleeping, or showering overwhelmed me. What to do first? I made it about halfway home until hunger won out. The desire for something spicy and eagerness to see a certain blonde dummy spurred me towards Ichiraku Ramen. I'll admit, ramen isn't really my favorite. But because the name sounds so familiar, it feels like a safe haven from the crowded maze of streets in Konoha. As genin Sensei made us do all sorts of jobs all around the village, but still I probably haven't even seen half of it.

I can feel that Naruto isn't there before I duck under the white banners that hang above the entrance.

"Welcome to- Ah! Sarah! We haven't seen you in a while." The old man behind the counter says as I hop onto a barstool. A couple sits to my left, leaning on each other endearingly. I sigh. Being thirteen is lonely.

I stare at the menu blankly, even though I know that the old man is already cooking my spicy pork ramen without me having to ask.

"Here you are!" He says, cheerily, placing it down in front of me. I almost wish I hadn't parted ways with Lee so soon earlier. He may be overenthusiastic, and he may think of me as some sort of rival, but in the end I guess I can always trust him. Underneath all his weirdness and oddities, Lee and Gai ar genuinely caring. They just show it in a really awful way that makes me feel sick.

I motion to reach for my wallet but he stops me. "You have exams coming up, right? You need your strength! It's on the house."

"Thanks!" I squeal.

"Oh, and you just missed Naruto. He was here a while ago."

I eat faster than usual and stride home quickly just as Konoha began to light up for the night. Ninja jump from tree to tree, a hand up in a signal. As they run, their chakra activates seals in the orange paper lanterns that hang on branches of magnificent oaks, leaving a swath of light behind them. There's something mesmerizing about looking at the pale yellow lights of Konoha's tallest buildings through the trees.

I pass through a food market just heating up for dinner shift. Leaves form a canopy above and soft lighting and the smell of grilling chicken enchants the air. With much effort, I resist the aromas.

After walking through the Akimichi village, I enter the clearing where my home resides that used to be an old farm. Now, wheat and barley grows tall and untamed, intermixed with grasses and wildflowers. The old rusty plow is still by the cobblestone walls that line the gravel road. The clouds are scattered with pink. There's so much beauty everywhere, if you know how to look. It's good to be home.

Once I open the door, I toss my heavy pack on the couch from two rooms away and kick off my shoes.

"You're home early today-" mom stops short when she sees me. "Finally!" She takes off her oven mitts and gives me a hug. "I was getting worried that man trained you to death put there!"

"Me too." I say.

"Take off those clothes. You're filthy. Is fried pork play for tonight?" She asks. Of course, food is the first order of business.

"Sure. Where's Choji?"

"Off doing some last minute training, I hope."

"Do you think that cloud looks like a dinosaur?" Shikamaru asks.

"Nah, dinosaurs have shorter arms, right? That's why they can't clap their hands." Choji folds his hands behind his head.

"Well not all dinos have short arms. Some had long arms." Shikamaru barely covers his yawn with a single hand.

"Pink dinos. Maybe that's why they all died."

"Because they were pink?"

"No, because they couldn't clap their hands."

"When did you last eat? Are you goin' crazy on me?"

"No, seriously! If you saw something awesome but couldn't clap your hands you'd be pretty upset."

...

The following night included multiple panic attacks and vast quantities of food. Somehow, the knowledge that I was gonna fight a kid who is in no way important to the Storyline didn't help.

I wish I could have just knocked myself out with sleeping pills. But now it's too late as I walk towards the arena, exhausted, jittery, and nervous. Konoha would be invaded today. There was a very real possibility of my death.

Why can't things just be easy for once?

The colosseum-shaped arena towers above me as I approach the wooden gates that lead directly to the arena floor.

A chunin with a clipboard and pen asks my name.

"Sarah Hatake, genin." I say. What if I'm not on the list? He looks through the clipboard and makes a mark on a Ruffled paper.

"Good luck." He says, disinterested.

The high stands of the coliseum roar with excitement as I enter through heavy wooden gates. The arena floor shakes with anticipation. This is a huge mistake.

But I got this, I remind myself. I'm fighting _Kankuro_. Easy. It's harder to be afraid of the invasion that's about to occur now that I'm within the vibrating walls of the arena. It's easier to focus on what's right in front of me.

The other genin stand in a straight line in the center of the arena in front of our proctor. Hayate is gone, replaced by Genma. The sand siblings, Shika, Shino, Neji and Naruto form a line.

"There she is! Finally!" Naruto exclaims. I take my place in between Shikamaru and Neji.

"Hey. Cut it out." Genma instructs. "Pay your respects to the Hokage."

Shikamaru directs my eyes to a balcony up in the stands. A man in white robes walks out onto it. The crowd hushes.

"Welcome, to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, for this year's chunin exams! These nine competitors have passed the first and second rounds of the exam, and now they will fight for the title of chunin! Enjoy!" He steps down the pressure mounts.

"Bets! Bets!" Men in the stands shout, carrying clipboards and cases of cash. "Place Bets Here!"

I mentally count everyone here. That makes eight competitors, not nine.

"What'll happen to Sasuke if he doesn't show up?" Naruto asks.

"If the candidate is not here by the time his match starts, he will forfeit the match." Genma says. "Oh, and another candidate dropped out, so we had to change the roster around." Genma shows us a chart. I'm still fighting Kankuro first. Good. "Any questions?" No body says anything.

"Okay, then the rules are the same as before. The match ends when one candidate gives up or dies. I can step in and stop the match at my discretion. The first match will be Naruto Uzumaki, and Neji Hyuuga. The rest of you can go to the waiting area." Across the arena, a stone slab falls, revealing a door. We trail towards the entrance. I turn around and give Naruto a subtle wink. He smirks confidently. Behind the two, huge banners are unfurled showing pictures of Naruto and Neji fighting, probably taken during one of their miscellaneous missions. The two banners roll down the wall, displaying their names at the bottom.

We make our way up through a dark set of stairs to a balcony with a metal railing. "Welcome back." Shika says, settling next to me on the railing. "Where 'ya been all this time?"

"Oh, ya' know. Out and about." I say, noncommittally. I'm more focused on the match. Naruto stares down Neji, fists balled. It looks like they're talking. Naruto's getting angry. His chakra flares, whirling, kicking up dust and leaves. My hair tosses around my face as the pressure builds. It's stronger than I remember. Now Neji's joins into the mix.

"Let the first match... Begin!" Genma calls. Neji extends his hand in front of him and the two stand, immobilized.

Neji moves his foot forward to find good footing, and Naruto makes a preemptive strike. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He yells, crossing his fingers. He sure didn't waste any time. Eight Narutos throw kunai. Neji blocks them all with impossible speed, then deftly avoids Naruto's clones, popping them one-by-one. Evetnually, there is only a single NAruto left. HE jumps away just in time to avoid a debilitating strike. Naruto jumps back in with a flying kick.

"Don't fight him up close!" Shikamaru yells. He prepares to yell again, louder, but he stops short. It's not worth the trouble.

Neji blocks Naruto's kick, and that Naruto is followed by another Naruto, and another, and another. Five kicks. Four disperse as Naruto hits the ground twenty feet from Neji.

"Some say two is better than one. But for you, it doesn't matter how many there are. You'll still be just as pathetic." Neji says, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Yeah!?" Naruto pounds a fist into his hand. "That was just a test! I'm just getting started." He smiles.

"That doesn't mean anything. You can talk all you want about being Hokage, but only a very few will ever be selected. Those selected were chosen by fate, talented and gifted from birth. Judging by your last attack, you aren't one of the chosen."

Naruto forms ten more clones and attacks, hanging back while his clones do the work. Neji fights the clones for a moment, observing them. Then he attacks the one that was hanging back. The attack lands and the clones puff away. Then, he puffs away as well. Naruto likes to keep us guessing. Two more Narutos attack from behind. Neji defeats them with a rotation, a technique where he spins and creates a spherical shield of chakra around him that repels attacks. One pops. The others don't.

"You must be the real one!" Neji takes a new stance. "And you're within range. Sixty-four palm!" He yells, jumping forwards. This is the end of the match. What a disappointment. He was so close.

I feel ashamed. I should've been helping him instead of training myself. He needs it more.

"Thirty two... Sixty-four palm!" Neji yells. Naruto crumples to the floor.

"It must be humiliating, lying there useless like that." Neji says. "I've closed your chakra points, meaning that you can no longer divert chakra through your body. You're powerless."

"Welp. He fought well." Shika says.

Naruto's head turns upward, defiantly. "We'll just see about that!" He yells. Then he pops. Another clone. He's gone. Incredible. It's not over yet.

Neji seems shocked. After the clone disappears, there is something left on the ground. Some sort of clothing. A suit. Everyone peers closer to see what it is.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Someone says. Kankuro. "Those clothes are covered in tags! Just like the ones in dad's office, right, Temari?"

It's true. What appeared to be a beige jumpsuit is actually a navy blue one covered in sealing tags as the wind scatters them through the arena.

"But... How did he get those?!" Temari gasps.

"Get what?" I demand.

Temari gives me a rude look. "Those are chakra stabilizers for long-distance telephones. Like the ones in the Kazekage's office. The phone data is transmitted by chakra, you see, and different lengths and intervals of chakra mean different messages. Seals have to be applied to the cables in order to keep the chakra from degrading over such a long distance so the messages are crisp and clean." She says, as if I should know that.

"You're saying... he raided the Kazekage's office?" I ask, incredulously. All eyes in the waiting room are on our conversation.

"If you wanna know what happened, I suggest you take a look at your Hokage's face!" She says, laughing a little. We all lean out the balcony and look up. the Third Hokage's face is red, and his hands grip the railing so hard that it bends.

Oh shit.

"He's in trouble for real, now." Shikamaru says what's on everybody's mind. And it won't help. either. With Neji's byakugan he'll be located in no time at all!" Shikamaru says. "What an idiot."

What is he doing?

"There's no hiding from me!" Neji yells, throwing a kunai with a sweep of his arm. I track it across the arena. In the shadows, a Naruto stands. _A_ Naruto? _The Naruto_? Only he knows. A clone appears in front of the blonde ninja, forming a human shield. The kunai hits it, pops it, and clatters to the ground harmlessly.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Naruto taunts. With a sweep of his arm, hundreds of Narutos step forward out of the shadows at each of his sides along the base of the coliseum wall, forming a ring of Narutos. Gasps go up from the audience. It's an awe-inspiring sight.

"Like this! Ultimate Technique: Kunai Clone Barrage!" He shouts. Each Naruto throws two kunai. And to everyone's surprise, each kunai streaks through the air, and, at its apex, turns into a Naruto. Hundreds of Narutos fly through the air. Each one of these Narutos throws two more cloned kunai. Black steel blocks out the sun as the replication repeats over and over again. Kunai rain down on a wide-eyed Neji.

"Rotation!" Neji shouts, spinning inside a blue ball of chakra. But the carpet bombing of kunai continues. Some explode. Some turn into Narutos and kick at Neji. Some impale into the ground.

Neji is fast, but not fast enough. In-between rotations, kunai graze his shoulders, arms, and legs. Four rotations is what it takes before all the Narutos are defeated and all the kunai clatter to the ground.

Unbelievable.

Naruto and Neji are visibly out of breath as Naruto saunters out to the center of the arena to meet his opponent. Neji pulls himself together.

"What was that clone!?" Neji demands.

"I heard from somewhere that you can only use that sixty-four palms once every couple of hours." Naruto says.

Neji's face contorts to anger. "Lee! He told you!?"

"Maybe. You should treat your teammates with more respect! They say a ninja should always know their opponent, right?"

"But how!?" Neji rages.

"Oh! Easy! The other day Sakura told me that since I have more chakra, all I have to do is outlast you!" He points a finger at Neji. "So I made a clone that could outlast the best of your attacks! When I went to see Iruka-Sensei at the Academy to get some advice, I saw these boxes being moved by some workers. The boxes said they had chakra stabilizing seals inside! I just copied a few down on some paper, that's all..." He laughs.

"What? you made your own seals?"

"It took me two weeks and Jiraya-Sensei's help, but I finally managed to make a couple on my own!"

I take another look at Lord Hokage. He seems in a much better mood now, but his arms are folded in front of him. I couldn't tell for sure from such a distance, but it looked like he was almost... smiling.

"It didn't really work like it was s'pposed to, but I just needed you to think that was the real me long enough to get clones in position around the arena!"

It's genius. Almost as good as a Shikamaru plan. Almost. But is it against the rules? The only reason the seals are hard to get hold of is because the price of an actual telephone to use them on is too high for normal citizens. Genma makes no movement to stop the match.

"A dirty trick. How dare you do that to me? You don't know what it's like! Being in the branch family, always put down and never recognized for my ability! All because my uncle was born just seconds before my father!" Neji clenches his hands into fists. "You don't know what it's like to carry around a seal that can never be removed and will cause you pain every day for the rest of your life!"

"You call being prepared a dirty trick? I could say you using kunai against me is a dirty trick because you prepared yourself with those! I could say your byakugan are a dirty trick because you have them and I don't!" Neji's eyebrows narrow to a point. "But one thing we do have in common is that seal! Trust me, I know exactly how you feel! You're not the only special guy here! Hinata is struggling just like you, yet you only put her down! But instead of being a miserable, self-pitying asswipe, at least I try to help others instead of condemn them!"

"Shut up!" Neji yells.

Naruto falters. He's used a considerable amount of his chakra with that last stunt.

"Fate is telling me that this will be your last stand. Proctor, I intend to kill him. If you're going to stop me, now would be the best time." Neji says.

"You think I'm gonna give up that easily?" Naruto shouts. "After all that work?!"

Naruto yells with effort, summoning his last bit of chakra, his eyes closed. Orange-looking chakra begins to coalesce around his right fist. His eyes snap open. "No way!" He shouts. They race forward. Neji spins into a rotation and Naruto's fist collides with the spherical barrier. An explosion rocks the arena, blowing wind and dust into the stands.

The city waits with bated breath as the smoke clears. There stands Naruto, over Neji, with his fist inches from Neji's face. Neji is laid out flat on the ground in a crater.

Genma waits a moment to see if something else occurs. "The winner of match one: Naruto Uzumaki!"


	61. Chapter 61: How Training Went Down

The crowd was stunned.

"Due to the tardiness of Sasuke Uchiha, the Second match, Sasuke Uchiha versus Gaara of the Sand, will have to be postponed. Until Then..." And then Genma was drowned out by shouting voices all around the coliseum.

"But we only came here to see that one fight!" One man yells.

Genma holds up a hand that eventually silences most of the spectators to a low murmur. "So would the next two competitors, Kankuro Razikumi and Sarah Hatake make their way down to the arena!"

A spike of fear and anticipation runs through me.

"Don't die." Shika says, as I get out of my seat and slip past him towards the stairs. Real encouraging. A quick scan of the audience for my family ends up empty. Finally, looking up at the thousands and thousands of people, I make it to the bottom of the arena, shaking and nervous, but feeling ready. Power gives confidence like you wouldn't believe.

Kankuro is already waiting for me, standing there with his weird mummy thing and his arms folded.

"Let the match.. begin!" Genma says.

"I quit!" Kankuro says, hands up."I give. You win!" He says, smirking annoyingly. What!? After all that? After all the countless strategies I came up with to beat him?! The crowd seems to echo my thoughts, now rumbling with rage. 200,000 people all stomping and shouting creates a vibration that can be felt down in the arena and makes my already-shaking legs feel like wet noodles. Embarrassed and dissappointed that I didn't get to show off my plan to the Hokage, I slink back up through the stands. "Get back down there and fight like a real ninja!" One drunk man yelled at me. "Whoa, dude, she's just a kid!" Another protests. I ignore them both.

"Lucky bitch." Shikamaru says enviously as I make it back to my seat. My legs are still shaking. And just think, I didn't even fight.

I take a look at the pamphlets. Looks like because of the schedule change I'm up against Shino next. I have no idea what to do. I'll probably just use my superior chakra to rush him before he can use any huge bug techniques.

"Next match: Shikamaru Nara versus Temari Razikumi!" Genma yells.

"Don't die." I say, sardonically, slapping him hard on the back as he walks by. I Accidentally hit him so hard it pushes him off the step and he has to catch his balance on the next. There's nothing worse than missing a step while going down stairs, or thinking there is another one at the bottom when in fact there is not. I can't believe Kankuro just quit like that, after all that training I went through to get ready...

* * *

Gai jumps out of his tent, stretching exitedly. "Wakey Wakey!" He shouts enthusiastically. Lee shoots out of his tent like a thrown spear, all dressed in spandex, stretching as well. "Nothing like a 5- A.M. Pre-stretch stretch, is there, Lee?" He asks.

"No, Sir!" Lee responds.

I sit in my sleeping bag, attempting to keep warm in the high altitude ontop of Miku Plateu, the exposed center of a massive volcano long dead. I slowly make it out of my tent to find Lee and Gai sitting on a rock, watching the sunrise, and drinking smoothies. "What are those?" I ask, eyeing them suspiciously.

"A youthful morning! Your first lesson is: Always Wake Up Early!" Gai yells, handing me a green smoothie. I think it might still be alive. My stomach lurches.

"You can't make me drink this." I say.

Gai pushes the disgusting drink to my mouth , tips my head back, and pinches my nose so I'm forced to drink. "LEsson NUmber TWo!" Gai lifts his finger as if he's discovered some magnificent fact. "Always drink your kale smoothie!"

"Kale?" I gag, a tear running out of my eye.

"YES, my beautiful silver beast! _The protein and vitamins_ provided by my s _pecial homemade kale smoothie_ surpasses any other health shake! With it's _delicious_ and _creamy_ composure mixed with elegant taste the kale smoothie allows us to start the day with YOuth! ISn't that right, LEe?"

"YEs, Sensei!" Lee yells.

After an hour of stretching, we join Gai at the bottom of a cliff, easily 500 feet high. "I learned this trick from Ka-Kashi. However, it's with a twist. YOu must climb the cliff. HOwever, you must carry these on your body to the top!" HE says, holding up two weight-suits. They don't look too bad. He tosses one to each of us. When it hits my hands, my knees buckle and my still-injured wrist almost snaps under the weight. I drop it like it's hot.

"One hundred pounds, to start! Every day, we will start with this exercise, and every day I will add more weight, five pounds to start. If one of you makes it to the top first, I will reward you with extra food for that day! If you fail to meet my expectations, we will be doing special cardio. Are you ready?!"

Even Lee doesn't seem enthusiastic about this.

"This will be your hardest month of training yet! Go!"

With effort, I slip on the weight jacket and buckle it in the front. It's made entirely of metal and looks scary. It feels like easily a hundred pounds, maybe more.

A few hours later, Lee and I heave ourselves over the top of the wall. Gai is waiting for us there. "Again!" He shouts. I feel like I'm going to cry. We descend to the bottom slowly and begin the 150 meter climb once more.

* * *

We couldn't do it. Our bodies couldn't keep up with the additional five pounds each day. By week two, our bodies could not keep up. Gai wouldn't let us sleep. Between my stomach aching for meals better than rations and a slice of meat and Gai waking us up at all hours of the night for cardio conditioning, Lee and I were about to give out. We hung on the edge of a precipice, neither of us able to climb any more. I feel like my bruised, dirty fingers are beginning to slip. Gai Sensei will save me, right? I'm too tired to summon chakra. Gai said no ninjutsu, so no ninjutsu it is.. I lose a hand on the rock. Lee notices, and, he stares at me, pausing to think. He extends an arm.

"Grab my- hand!" He grunts. I do, and the both of us scream in effort, pulling me up onto the ledge. I kneel down, pulling him up with another yell. Only a hundred more feet to go.

"We can do this... together." Lee says. "This isn't a competition anymore: This is survival!"

"But Gai will save us, right?" I ask. "I mean, if we fall?"

"He probably would, but if we go through extra cardio again for falling off, we won't make it tomorrow." He says. "Training accidents happen all the time. Don't risk it."

I'm somewhat shocked that he would doubt Gai's motivation to save him. But then again, we're warriors now.

With a final grunt of effort, Lee and I make it to the top. Gai is already there. "Again," My heart drops. "You two have tied. That makes thirty-two ties and one win each!" He says, with a flashing smile.

"Whaaaat?"

"You see, when you help each other, everyone wins! However, if you fight amongst yourselves, you're weakened to the true threat, which is, in this case, the climb."

This is normally the part when he tells us how much weight we need to add the next day. Instead, he gives us a thumbs-up.

So I guess the lesson was to support your friends instead of bearing all the literal weight by yourselves. After that, it was on to cardio, and then carrying heavy logs across a cold river.

"You have nowhere to sleep, and no tents, so I expect you to create your own homes." Gai had said. Every day, we cut down trees and shuttle logs to the building site for a few hours, and we'll be done in another few days. Our rudimentary log cabin is nearly finished. Now, we're sleeping under overhanging rocks, bundled up in blankets and protected from the wind by a small wall of rocks. Our breakfast is a green smoothie and rations, created by a mix of water and dry powder from a bag. Gai's training is brutal, and extremely extra, for lack of better words. He really goes the extra mile to make sure we're training juuuuuust right. I bet Kakashi isn't doing that to his team.

But it's only for a few weeks more. After our lesson on teamwork, things became easier. Our basic house by the river was built, eliminating one of our daily exercises and allowing more time for relaxing and letting our muscles rest. We can hunt and forage now, meaning we're eating better. Gai's ruthless training became a summer camp.

My muscles were already very strong, but now, from the exercises, my body has learnt to accept at least some endurance. As for Lee, his exceptional endurance was now coupled by strength that made him more dangerous in our daily exhaustion spars, matches we fight at the end of the day once we're too tired to move, let alone fight for real.

On the last morning of Gai's training, we set off from the mesa early before dawn.

"Where are we going?" Lee asked Gai. He flashed a smile and said, 'somewhere fun!'." I'm too tired to ask as we made our way down to the valley with all our stuff on our backs, never intending to revisit Camp Gai. Lee cried when he said goodbye to what we dubbed, 'the Little Log Cabin That Tried'. His eyes still brimmed with tears as he looked back at the spire of rock.

"Lee!" Gai yells. "Stop Crying!"

"Ye- Yes Gai- Sensei!" Lee whimpers. "It's just so sad that we made so many memories and-"

"Although one should never forget the past," Gai instructs, "The Youthful should always look forward to the future, because the most important moments of our lives are always ahead of us!"

Lee looks like he's had an epiphany. "But what about when we get old?"

To my surprise, Gai smacks Lee across the head. "The youthful never get old! If your most precious moments are behind you, then that is your choice! A choice that those with youthful hearts will never choose! Age is a state of mind, and the mind determines whether our deeds will be remembered bitterly in our old age or witnessed once again!"

Lee brims over with tears again, inspired.

I wonder if I can physically get old and die. You know what happened last time I tried.

We eventually reach a gravel path. A cart and two horses is waiting for us. I could only imagine how odd we looked, emerging from the forest, covered in dirt, leaves, cuts, and bruises. All my clothes are totally ruined. And bathing in a stream doesn't make you feel very clean.

Around the cart are three genin ninja that I don't recognize.

"Here's our ride!" Gai says, walking up to the cart driver. The Leaf ninja eye us suspiciously. We're ninja, being guarded by ninja! I guess the driver hired ninja for the journey. How funny is that? They walk alongside us, toward our apparent destination: A town.

The small down is decorated in tons of color and ribbons and flags and everything. People were everywhere. vendors sold food and small objects.

"Your final training exercize," Gai breifs us, "Is to participate in the annual Baker's Festival play."

"Whaat?" Lee and I gasp. A play?

"Yes, a play!" Gai confirms our worst suspicions. "You have to know what it's like to perform for thousands of fans even if you have no clue what you're doing at all!"

Lee and I drag ourselves to the stage and ask to join. Turns out, anyone is allowed in, and all the villagers willing to participate act a part in the play. Some sing, some dance, some are actors in stories.

Inside the theater tent, the director eyes us up. I sigh.

"And you.. want a part? We won't accept any ruffians just looking to screw around." The snooty-looking director says, eyeing our dirty and ragged clothes suspiciously.

"Our Sensei is forcing us to join." I say, pulling my headband out of my pocket and showing him. The director's eyes popped.

"Ninja! Then why are you so... so..."

"Dirty? We spent the last month in the woods training." I explain, feeling slightly ebarrassed.

"Perfect! You can have stage a fake fight for us! Do you know any techniques that allow you to look like other people?" He asks.

"We can look like other people, but not actually become those people, meaning that it's just an illusion." I explain. The villages closer to the Hidden Leaf, such as this one, receive lots of shinobi traffic from missions and were fairly well-versed in ninja abilities.

"Excellent!" The man says. "You two will play the part of these two princessess..."

"I'm not doing this." I peek out to the audience, wearing a pink princess gown that doesn't fit at all and a cheesy conical hat with pink ribbons. I've never worn anything so mortifying in my life. Lee, however, was enjoying it.

"This is my chance to prove that I can perform under-pressure to Gai-Sensei!" He whispers excitedly. If I hadn't known better, I would say Lee was enjoying his princess outfit as well as his opportunity.

After ages of waiting, our cue comes. The shaking on my legs and the feeling of a ferociously red blush of embarassment almost made me lose control of my Transformation Jutsu as we walked on stage. With two daggers, Lee and I had an impressive mock battle. I just focused on the moves and did my best to pretend hundreds of villagers weren't watching me bust the seams of the princess dress wide open in the midst of a spectacular backflip. Lee and I finish our sequence when an evil ninja jumps through the castle wall, snatches us up, and carries us offstage. The curtain falls with the end of Part I to applause.

"We did it!" I say, glad that it's over. I'm still jittery. I take off the remains of the dress and heels as fast as possible and steal some regular-ish clothes from the prop room before scooting out to find Gai.


	62. Chapter 62: A Hole In The Wall

Between the exams and training and everything that has been happening, I still haven't had the chance to visit Kaito in the hospital. Now's my opportunity. I walk the slick, carless city streets, into the old district. The Coliseum is in sight. Here and there, shops are broken into. splatters of blood find a new home on the sidewalk. Disturbed elderly couples give a fallen kunai a wide berth. Two chunin rush over to inspect the knife. They pick it up. They seal it with a scroll. Red for military evidence, black for bodies.

The body count rises every day as families wonder if their loved ones are dead or simply working late at the office to clean up the mess. Even the newspapers were working double-time, releasing copies on an unusual wednesday morning. But not Rei and I. Sensei gave us the chance to visit our third teammate while he picks up the slack for us.

It's hard to believe this town had been so happy just yesterday. It's hard to believe I was so confident yesterday. I failed.

Miserably.

And if there's one thing it taught me, it's that I can't just tell someone about my 'visions'. I have to take matters into my own hands. I have to get stronger.

I changed nothing at all. If anything, I made things worse. Much worse. Today, the city mourns two great shinobi who died before their time. And it's all my fault.

The sky rumbles above as we enter the sanctity of the hospital. The clerk, stressed and tired, sends us to the proper room. The door opens with a gentle push.

* * *

Asuma wanders to his mail slot in the front door of his home. For him, it's weird to have a mail slot rather than a mailbox. But now that he lives in a civilian district, the architects are apparently not as paranoid. One letter in particular surprises him. Ever since he was a child, Asuma Sarutobi had an unsavoury relationship with his father, Hiruzen Sarutobi. So when he saw the hokage's seal on the scrap of paper, he was predisposed to disgust. He placed it on his hearth. He would burn it later, when it was cool enough outside for a flame. He retreated back to the kitchen.

Throughout the day, Asuma found himself staring at the letter on the hearth. While eating his lonesome dinner, he finally decided to bite the bullet. Begrudgingly, he slit the envelope open with a blade of wind chakra on his finger, a part of him hoping he would lose control and rip up the letter. The letter emerged from it's packaging unwounded.

He read it.

'Asuma,' It said,

'In two nights, my time in this world will end, and someone will come to take my life. I hope you will say your goodbyes to me in person, but this is my final goodbye. Know that my death is unavoidable. It must be done for the safety of my village, and I anticipate my sacrifice gladly. Now that I am thinking of life in my final hours, my only regret is choosing the village over you. You must work hard to make sure my sacrifice is not in vain. Here is a list of things I was never able to say:

1\. Yes, I did lie to you when you found your birthday presents under my bed. They were not for the council.

2\. When the lawnmower launched a rock into a window and your mother punished you for it, that was my fault. I am sorry.

3\. The basement does not contain monsters. I was trying to keep you away from my work.

4\. I give you my blessing to marry Kurenai.

5\. I'm proud of you.

6\. I love you.

* * *

The rectangular, purple sealing barrier congeals around the hokage box at the coliseum, around Hiruzen, just as he predicted. But when Hiruzen leapt to the roof to face his destiny, he couldn't have predicted what happened next.

"Don't touch my father!"

"Asuma!" The hokage gasped. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Asuma stood in front of the Hokage, arms spread wide.

"Well well! You know, there's no father-son bonding moment quite like death!" Orochimaru laughs, leaning against two coffins. The lids of the coffins slide off with a grinding swish. Inside are the forms of the first and second hokage.

"There _won't_ be any more death today!" Asuma swears.

"Asuma! I can handle this. Leave! Now!"

"I got your letter. You always said that your responsibility to the village was more important than your responsibility to your family. That's your greatest regret! And now's your chance to right that wrong! Stay alive! For me! For the village! You don't have to do this!"

Hiruzen summons his monkey ninja, Enma, in a puff of smoke. Enma becomes a baton in his hands. "You don't understand. It's for the greater good. I'm doing this for the village."

"That's the problem. You're doing this for the village, just like everything else you do! Do something for your son!"

"My my, what an argument this is! Don't worry about punishing your naughty little son, ma ma, I'll do it for you!" Orochimaru licks his lips.

Hiruzen had resigned himself to death. To sacrifice. For the village. But now that resignation began to waver, and his confidence in his decision began to wither. Seeing his estranged son in front of him changed something inside of Hiruzen. He made up his mind.

Consequences be damned, for this one time, he would do something for his family. And to a lesser degree, himself. Hiruzen could feel how Asuma felt about Kurenai. He hadn't seen the wedding. He hadn't held the grandchildren. For once in his life, a fierce protectiveness lit inside him. Stronger than his feelings for the village. Stronger than anything. He was determined.

With a great roar, Hiruzen Sarutobi rides a massive mudslide towards his three enemies, staff brandished. He wouldn't end up like his predecessor. This time... he would live!

* * *

Inside the room, the bulb flickers. Kaito lays on the bed, wrapped in white sheets. His hair was messed up horribly. So was his body. Heat scars and burns lined his exposed arms and wound up the base of his neck. His chest rose silently, under the sheets.

Another one of my failures. I should have protected him. Walking over to his bedside, I inspect him. I can't help myself. Slowly, tenderly, I reach out, touching the scars on the exposed base of his neck. He grunts in his sleep, seeming to recoil from pain. I retract my hand. Then, I notice something. One of the red scars that inhabits the inside of his forearm begins to glow. It must be- a cursed mark!

I sprint out of the room, busting through the door, calling for a nurse.

When I returned to the room, he wasn't there. But a Kaito-shaped hole in the wall was.

* * *

Orochimaru approaches his victim, who was held aloft by branches of the first hokage's woodstyle. The branches curled around his wrists and ankles, holding him fast.

"Alone against me, you should've known you wouldn't last long." Orochimaru says, clicking his tongue in mock sadness. Asuma's head falls to his chest. On the other side of the roof, the crash of the first, third, and second hokages fighting send shockwaves and piles of dirt over the two. A fleck falls on Orochimaru's face. His face falls off, removing the dirt. It's replaced by a new face.

"Now look what he's done." Orochimaru says. "Annoying bastard." He raises his hand. A snake shoots out towards Asuma's neck. Something intercepts it. It's Hiruzen.

"Father!" Asuma gasps.

The snake bites his neck, around his red battle armor, leaving two black marks. Suddenly, the Third Hokage begins to feel his breath quicken. He drops to the ground, covered in burns, cuts, bruises. They both were. They weren't winning this battle.

Orochimaru's smile breaks into a short, deranged laugh. "Should've let him die, ay? To protect your precious village."

"No." Hiruzen says. "I haven't died for my village. I've died for my son." He leaps up with a last surge of strength, stabbing the Sanin with a kunai, aiming for the heart. Orochimaru dodges backwards. Hiruzen rips it up, tearing Oroxhimaru's left arm off at the shoulder. It falls to the floor with the third hokage, both pale and limp.

Orochimaru's face twists in rage. There would be no mercy on Asuma now. Not that he would've shown any, anyway.


	63. Chapter 63: I goofed up

Good evening everyone,

 **update: check out the pairing poll for this story on my bio page!**

Author-Chan here. Sorry for not updating in a really long time. It's been quite a while. The reason that I haven't been updating is actually not what you guys think. After my last update, I just got busy for a while. Really busy. Like, super busy. When I finally got time to write my fanfiction, I came to the realization that I had totally forgotten what I was doing, and now the plot doesn't make sense to me because I can only remember pieces of it. So yeah. That's my excuse. I forgot. Oops.

If anyone actually wants me to finish up this story, I'll put some effort in, but if not, \\_(•_•)_/

Update: so I have been able to find interest in the story again and even though I lost all my old plans and notes I feel like this experience gives me a chance ti come up with new ideas and make the story fresh again. After the chunin exams I've decided we're gonna kick this story into high gear, starting with the death of one of our favorite new characters, so I hope you guys are looking forward to this as much as me!

Thank you you all for reading,

-Its-mysterious


	64. Chapter 63: That One Sad Naruto Song

**If you don't know the song, "Sadness and sorrow", from the Naruto anime soundtrack, look it up real quick so you understand what I'm talking about. It's pretty important. I actually can play this song irl, by the way.**

A little fluff for you guys. Enjoy!

* * *

A few weeks ago, I invited Sasuke and Naruto to Ichiraku Ramen. I have some questions about how anime transfers to real life, and hopefully, this should give me some answers.

At the Ichiraku Ramen shop, Naruto sits to my right. Sasuke comes ten minutes late, just to make sure we know that he doesn't care about our invitation.

"Don't get any ideas," Sasuke says. "I only agreed here because you promised to teach me more about my sharingan." Sasuke sits on the stool next to me at Ichiraku Ramen.

"Ch. what's that guy doing here?!" Naruto demands, folding his arms. Naruto and Sasuke look pointedly away from each other.

"Hand me a menu." Sasuke orders me.

"Sure, you can have mine." I say.

"I wasn't asking for permission." Sasuke says.

"Hey! Don't be so mean to Sarah! She's paying for our meal anyways, so play nice!" Naruto points the classic accusatory finger with a tic of annoyance.

"It's not like she's buying us a good meal. I don't even like Ramen." Sasuke says, folding his arms. Now that's just not true. He's just trying to annoy Naruto.

Naruto makes a little growl of annoyance.

"You know, they make a tomato based broth," I offer. "Since that is your favorite flavor, isn't it?" I point at his menu.

Now Sasuke looks annoyed. "And how would you know that? Are you some kind of stalker?" He asks.

"That's an interesting thought." I say, noncommittally. After Ayame brings our ramen to us, the two begin to eat on either side of me. Naruto's manners are terrible, and Sasuke's disdain for him was showing as Naruto slurps down another long noodle. The wet noodle slaps him in the face as it goes into his eager lips.

"Okay," I turn the attention to myself and set down my Ramen. "I'm going to tell you why I needed you two here tonight." Scooting back from the counter, I spread a scroll across my lap. With a handsign, I unseal the topic of our meeting. An acoustic guitar.

"You called me all the way out here for music lessons?" Sasuke says.

"A guitar!" Naruto exclaims through a mouthful of ramen. Even Ayame moves over to he counter, eyes on the musical instrument.

"Have any of you guys ever heard this song before?" I ask, as i touch a pick to the strings. It's very fitting that this song is the first song I ever learned in the guitar. I allow my eyes to unfocus and I combine my soul with the music. A few minutes later, and my rendition of 'Sadness and Sorrow' is complete.

"That's a very beautiful song." Ayame says with a smile as she turns her attention back to clearing dishes.

"It's too sad, ya know! I don't like it." Naruto declares.

"But it does sound familiar... I can't say I've heard it before. Play it again." Sasuke says. I play the song again.

"So none of you have heard it before?" I ask, after the second repetition.

"It does sound familiar..." Naruto says.

"But haven't you noticed? The song plays every time something sad happens. Think about it." I say.

Naruto frowns for a moment, as if remembering something, but then he gives up. "Thinking makes my head hurt."

Sasuke and I snort. "But I'm right, aren't I? I say. I take his half-finished ramen bowl away from him, and he protests, but then stops.

"Yeah! I can kinda hear something! I can hear a flute!"

"Not so loud, Naruto!" Sasuke and I yell. "We can't hear!"

"Try to remember what you heard the last time either of you cried." I suggest.

"Uchihas don't cry." Sasuke asserts strongly. I raise my arms in surrender.

"Naruto, I have something to tell you." I say, sealing away my guitar. "I'm leaving the Leaf Village to join Orochimaru. I need power, and all of you are just holding me back." I stand up.

"Wha-what?" Naruto gasps, clearly falling for the bait. Sasuke raises an eyebrow.

"Don't tell anyone where I'm going." I leap to the rooftops and jump away.

"Wait- Wait! Sarah!" Naruto calls.

They both follow me.

"Did Orochimaru get you with one of those curse seals too?" Naruto yells.

"Don't try to stop me. I'll kill you if you get in my way!" I yell, throwing kunai behind me. They miss.

"Sarah! I won't let you run away that easily! You were my friend!" Naruto yells. "And if I have to beat you so hard that you can't run another step, then I will! Shadow clone jutsu!"

Fifty clones materialize around us as I leap towards the Konoha walls. Success. He's totally fallen for it. I release a storm of shuriken, directing each at the clones, popping them with waves of metal. I stop and turn around.

"Naruto... ever since I met you you've been a nuisance! And now you're really just pissing me off! You've never been my best friend... all this time, Sasuke has been my best friend! Sasuke and I are running away to Orochimaru together!"

Naruto looks shocked.

"No. Don't involve me in this." Sasuke says. "But you're right. You may be onto something." He says.

"No, Sasuke! Don't listen to her! She's not onto anything!"

"I'm not listening to her." Sasuke says, pointing vaguely into the sky. "Listen carefully."

Da da da da! da da, da, da, daaaaaaaaa

The song is playing! I start to giggle.

"That's the song!" Naruto gasps. "But you're not even playing your guitar!"

"And how are you feeling right now?" Sasuke asks, smirking.

"I'm angry! And I'm... kinda sad! Kinda... sad. I'm kinda sad!"

"The song _does_ play whenever you're sad." I say.

"What the- WHAT! YOU MEAN TO SAY YOU WERE LYING ABOUT OROCHIMARU?!"

"Well, mostly." I explain.

"The song seems to get louder as I get closer to Naruto." Sasuke observes, walking closer and farther away from him. "Hm."

"You- you jerk!" The yellow-headed ninja yells.

"It's your fault for being stupid enough to fall for it!"

"You tricked me!"

"Stop bickering." Sasuke says. He seems deep in thought. "How can it be possible that Naruto has a song that plays when he gets sad? Is it a jutsu? A kekkei genkai?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"We should probably report this to Kakashi-Sensei. He would know what to do." Sasuke says.

"But we would have to reproduce the sadness to prove it to him." I point out.

"ARE YOU GUYS GONNA TRICK ME AGAIN? NO FAIR!"


End file.
